Confidence in the UK economy amongst finance directors is growing, a survey conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland’s (ICAS) magazine The CA and law firm DLA Piper revealed.
Some 72% of surveyed senior finance professionals are expecting "modest growth" for the remainder of this year and 10% "strong growth", compared to 49% and 3% respectively in a poll conducted last year.
Financial directors based in the UK were more optimistic, with 12% predicting "strong growth", while only 3% of those based abroad -showed as much confidence.
"It’s good to see greater confidence as regards the economy, but there is clearly a way to go and there is also some distance to go in restoring the public’s faith in business," The CA editor Robert Outram commented.
Asked how to restore the public’s faith in business the respondents considered "improving corporate culture", followed by "prioritising sustainability" and "clearer financial reporting" as best approaches.
In contrast, "more effective regulation" was considered the least suitable approach to restore public trust in business.
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By GlobalData"Our financial directors identified a change in corporate culture as the most important factor, and this backs up the view that change for the better must begin at the top," Outram concluded.
The survey was based on responses from more than 160 finance directors with ICAS membership.
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