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Accountants overwhelmingly in favour of the UK’s membership of the EU

Only 7 per cent of Britain’s leading finance managers think leaving the EU would have a positive impact on their companies

Zlata Rodionova
Thursday 27 August 2015 14:46 BST
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Only 7 per cent of Britain’s leading finance managers think leaving the EU would have a positive impact on their companies
Only 7 per cent of Britain’s leading finance managers think leaving the EU would have a positive impact on their companies (Getty Images)

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David Cameron, the UK prime minister, has pledged to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the bloc before holding an in-out referendum on EU membership by the end of 2017.

But over three-quarters of leading finance professions told CIMA (Chartered Institute Management Accountants) that they want the UK to maintain EU membership.

Finance professionals fear an EU exit could have a hugely negative impact on British businesses, with only 7 per cent believing it would have a positive effect, according to a poll.

The research covered 1,100 UK professionals and CIMA members working in finance across all industry sectors and sizes of organisation.

“The role of management accountants is to assess all relevant information to decide what will best ensure the success of business now and in the future. On this basis, they have said that the UK’s membership of the EU is good for the UK,” said Tony Manwaring, CIMA’s executive director, external affairs.

Positive sentiment towards the EU was consistent across all sizes of organisation, with 80 per cent stating they believed EU membership is good for British business and was high even with relatively low levels of interaction with other EU countries

Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the bloc before holding an in-out referendum on EU membership by the end of 2017.

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), founded in 1919, is the world’s leading and largest professional body of management accountants, with over 227,000 members and students operating in 179 countries.

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