June 2010
National Construction & A/E Outlook
One of the quirks of a major shift in the direction of the economy is that a little bit of news can influence sentiment in a short period of time. So it’s a bit dangerous to make too much of the raft of good economic news that greeted the start of the second quarter. With that caveat in place, the data and economic surveys, coupled with upbeat earnings reports from the stock market, are showing the first signs of a sustained recovery. Some of the news was good enough to embolden a minority of economists to start talking about a ‘V’ recovery instead of a double-dip ‘W-shaped’ recession. Read more...
What Does It Cost?
With recent reports on consumer and producer prices showing that inflation is being kept at bay, you wouldn’t expect to see construction material and building product prices rising, but increases in a number of basic items are raising red flags about the cost of construction. As a general rule, the beginning of a recovery is usually marked by rising prices while supply capacity is added to meet the growing demand. During the past eighteen months, manufacturers and distributors have certainly struggled with the opposite side of the coin, cutting prices throughout the decline as demand shrunk faster than supply could respond. It would be logical then for prices to start inching up now that economic conditions are improving, except that conditions in the construction economy are pretty much as bad as the conditions have been for a year or more. With the long-term impact of inflationary fiscal policies still theoretical rather than reality, most economists feel the price increases are a temporary phenomenon. Read more...
Attention Timberline Users - Join Us on July 16, 2010
On July 16, Jack Orth will host the next quarterly meeting of TGIFFs (Timberline Gems of Invaluable Facts Fridays). The discussion topic will be "Timberline Accounting Tips and Tricks: Make Your Software Work for You." Details and Registration...
Somerset Construction & A/E Team News
Fore! We will see many of you out on the golf course this spring and summer. We were at the ABC of Indiana golf outing on June 9 and will be at the ACEC of Indiana golf outing on June 16, the ISA golf outing on June 24 and the CFMA of Central Indiana outing on August 16.
Somerset
Practical MBA Program--Attend in Person or Via Webinar. Our
popular MBA program is scheduled through 2011. The next is on Wednesday, June 30, when Howard Cox will present "Profit Improvement Strategies." Click
here for the full
schedule, program details and registration.
2010 Indiana Construction Industry Financial Performance & Salary and Benefits Survey. If you have not completed this year's survey yet, please do so by our June 30 deadline. If you have questions about the survey and how to participate, contact us.
Work-In-Process is provided by Somerset CPAs for our clients and other interested persons upon request. For additional information on the issues discussed, please contact Ken Hedlund, Jay Feller, Steve George, Chris Mayfield or Rebecca Ogle of our Construction & A/E Team. Since technical information is presented in generalized fashion, no final conclusion on these topics should be made without further review. This document is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer.
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