A new biannual survey shows some perceptions of the economy are improving.

The Center for Audit Quality's fall 2022 Audit Partner Pulse Survey found almost 60% of audit partners expressed pessimism for the U.S. economy. However, the group's more recent fall 2023 survey showed overall pessimism dropped to 27%.

Julie Bell Lindsay, CEO of the center, explained audit partners are present in all public companies in the country. They are responsible for understanding risks and pressures affecting businesses and the industries they operate in.

"Certainly the economic outlook is stronger than a year ago," Lindsay noted. "But auditors still see the potential for inflation, while it is falling, to have a significant impact on business operations over the course of the next year."

Lindsay added almost 70% of auditors see what she calls "inflationary effects" hitting business for longer than 12 months. She asserted businesses are being heavily affected by the country's current regulatory environment, with a majority saying the effects have been negative, citing additional costs associated with compliance with new rules.

Lindsay acknowledged despite the various challenges plaguing the business community from cybersecurity to learning how to better handle artificial intelligence, the country finds itself in what she terms a "relatively strong position."

"The U.S. continues to have, I would say, the most liquid and strong capital markets in the world," Lindsay contended. "We are not without our challenges, but we seem to be coming out of the pandemic and an inflationary cycle in a fairly strong position."

According to the survey, companies' top three priorities are cost management, financial performance and overall growth. Lindsay noted while artificial intelligence was lower on the list of companies' priorities, it is high on their list of challenges because of data quality concerns and data security risks.

Lindsay added companies across the country are also experiencing a shortage of accounting and auditing professionals.

"It is not just getting talent into the companies," Lindsay stressed. "When you have less talent, that means the existing talent has to take on additional responsibilities and that can hurt retention."

While half of companies are focused on upskilling, the survey found one in three is working to increase compensation and workplace flexibility for current employees.


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A new report showed Montana receives a larger share of federal funding than the national average and the effects of continued cuts could be "dramatic."

For every dollar Montana contributes in federal taxes, the state receives $1.40 in return, according to the Montana Nonprofit Association report. In 2024, it totaled more than $14 billion disbursed, a number trending down in 2025 as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk make more cuts in the name of government efficiency.

Adam Jespersen, executive director of the Montana Nonprofit Association, warned "even microreductions would have dramatic impacts."

"We're all for eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse," Jespersen acknowledged. "But those conversations need to be had with care, with planful action and with communication around the 'what' and the 'why' and the 'how.'"

Federal funds reach Montanans through federal jobs, nonprofits, social programs and state and local government revenue, as well as the services they provide. It includes aid to schools, farms, housing, infrastructure, health care and more.

There are more than 650 nonprofits in Montana employing more than 60,000 people, or nearly 12% of the state's workforce. Among those organizations, 64% would be in financial peril without government funds, according to the report. Jespersen called the early cuts a "canary in the coal mine."

"Because those impacts are de minimis compared to other impacts that may come from cuts to social security, to Medicaid, to education, to local government, things like that," Jespersen explained.

Cuts could affect rural Montana in more ways, as 89% of Montana counties are more reliant on Social Security and veterans benefits than the national average, as are 86% of counties on Medicare.

In line with tribal treaty rights, 58% of revenue to tribal governments in Montana came from federal funding between 2003 and 2009.


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Federal workers in the Commonwealth are part of a national labor union lawsuit filed against President Donald Trump's executive order to strip collective bargaining rights from nearly one million federal employees.

The Trump administration had already ended collective bargaining agreements with Transportation Security Administration employees.

Scott Robinson, president of AFGE Local 448 in Virginia, said federal workers like himself are not the enemy, adding that these actions threaten protections from unfair disciplinary actions or firings without cause.

"There's a huge effort to portray federal employees as guys in gray suits, who make hundreds of thousands of dollars and work in a fancy office in D.C. That's not the case," Robinson explained. "The federal employees that you interact with are park rangers. They're TSA officers. They're the SSA clerks. They are the VA nurses."

The Trump administration has said the order is needed to protect America's national security interests and defend the president's agenda.

The order revokes the collective bargaining rights of federal workers involved in national security issues. That spans federal employees at nearly two dozen agencies, including the Defense Department and Justice Department.

Federal employee unions have filed multiple lawsuits to stop the administration from shrinking the federal workforce and shuttering government agencies. These employees have also used their union rights to file grievances over certain policy decisions by Trump.

Robinson pointed out those collective bargaining agreements protect employees trying to serve their country - and provide continuity long after a president is out of office.

"There's no reason to oppose the concept of working people working towards a common goal, whether that's better pay, better working conditions or societal change," Robinson said. "Working people know what's best for them, and they don't need to be told what's best for them by an administration or by biased media."

Trump is taking action as labor unions experience a surge of public popularity. A Gallup poll found 70% of Americans have a favorable view of unions - one of the highest approval ratings since 1965.

As President Donald Trump dismantles the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, advocates of the agency warn that veterans and military service members in the Commonwealth will suffer.

The bureau partly enforces the Military Lending Act, which protects service members and their families from predatory lending and financial practices. The bureau has issued regulations that include limits on overdraft fees and restrictions on considering medical debt in credit reports.

Brian Johns, executive director of Virginia Organizing, said military members are often targets of predatory financial practices - many times right outside their bases.

"There were just dozens of payday-lending places, check-cashing places, car-title lending places," he said. "It became apparent that many of those who were living on base were definitely the targets to get cash quick, but without being made fully aware of all of the negative implications, including, like, 400% interest."

In a speech in February, Trump called the bureau "out of control" and questioned whether employees at the agency received kickbacks from money they return to consumers.

The House originally planned to vote to end overdraft fee protections enacted by the bureau this week. But disagreements among Republicans on other legislation ground votes in the lower chamber to a halt.

Christine Chen Zinner, chief policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform, said service members have been described as the canary in the coal mine for abusive practices by financial institutions. The bureau, she said, helps protect service members, especially younger enlistees with less financial literacy.

"It is truly an agency where the government's working for the people," she said. "They vigorously protect consumers and their families. They protect service members, veterans and their families. They reduce junk fees, and they hold companies accountable when they engage in unfair and illegal conduct."

Since its inception, the bureau has returned more than $360 million to veterans and service members.