FDs want to keep Budget.

Despite the clamour that the annual Budget is unnecessary, almost 80% of finance directors want to see it retained. The findings of this week’s Accountancy Age/Reed Accountancy Personnel Big Question survey follow calls for the Budget to be axed. But despite criticisms, 79% of FDs were against abolition, arguing that it would lead to a continuous stream of government financial adjustments. ‘The budget should not be scrapped at all. Otherwise the public would be more ignorant than they already are,’ said Nick Rand, FD of Link Research. ‘I feel more than two announcements a year would fuel the public’s confusion over financial matters that affect them.’ Just 15% said the Budget should be cancelled, with 6% neutral. ‘There is probably more attention paid to written reports in the papers, than to the actual speech,’ said P. N. Samat, financial director of employment services company SBJ ESS Limited.