The Accounting and Finance Employee Confidence Index, a measure of overall confidence among U.S. accounting and finance workers, decreased 10.6 points to 56.9 in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to a recent survey commissioned by Spherion Corporation and conducted by Harris Interactive(R).

The Index, reaching its lowest level since the survey began, decreased primarily due to increases in the number of workers who believe that the economy is getting weaker and that fewer jobs are available.

Results from the Accounting & Finance Employment Report:
- Fifty percent of accounting and finance workers believe the economy is getting weaker, an increase of 11 percentage points from the third quarter of 2007.
- Forty-one percent of accounting and finance workers believe that there are fewer jobs available, up nine percentage points from the previous quarter.
- Despite a lack of confidence in the strength of the economy, the amount of workers confident in the future of their current employer remained steady at 70 percent, showing no change from the third quarter of 2007.

"Although the Accounting and Finance Employee Confidence Index reached its lowest level in two years and economists are pointing to slower hiring in the first quarter of 2008, we are seeing companies expand and remain cautiously optimistic about their hiring plans. Despite a lack of worker confidence seen in our report, there are substantial reasons for workers to remain confident," said Brendan Courtney, senior vice president of corporate development and field operations for Spherion(R). "Not only are we seeing businesses expanding, but projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics predict that the demand for finance professionals will continue to grow faster than the average for all other professions through 2014. We continue to see a strong demand for financial analysts, staff accountants and internal auditors from a wide range of companies across the United States."