Monarchy backed by FDs
Is there a business case for continuing with the monarchy?
An overwhelming number of finance directors believe the monarchy is a unique business asset for the UK.
With the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebration already under way 72% of FDs in this week’s Accountancy Age/Reed Accountancy Personnel Big Question said they believed that the pageantry of the monarchy was good for the economy.
Avocot Hardware FD Graham Bradbury believed that outside the UK the monarchy was perceived as ‘unique’ and that tourism was driven by ‘cultural difference’. ‘Our monarchy is most definitely a cultural social advantage for the UK,’ he said.
Ford Credit FD Brian Reeves said the monarchy was an ‘established business asset’ with the income outweighing the cost. ‘It is more of an asset than the government,’ he said.
An anonymous FD said: ‘The monarchy earns a fortune for this country. The pageantry of monarchy makes a spectacle which can be sold around the world. Purely from a business point of view it’s worth it.’
The results of the survey will strengthen the Queen as she looks forward following a period which has seen great controversy surrounding members of the Royal Family.
It might also provide some consolation to Prince Edward after the much publicised difficulties of his television production company.
Of the 332 responses only 17% thought the monarchy was a drain on the country’s reserves. One anonymous FD believed there was no use for the monarchy adding, ‘not unless you are selling tacky merchandise from a wheelbarrow in Oxford Street.’