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Top bosses have expressed sympathy with widespread fury at big companies’ ability to minimise their tax bills.
A survey by international executive recruitment consultancy Korn/Ferry Whitehead Mann found that half of the FTSE 100’s chairpeople believe the public is justified in its anger at how prominent businesses such as Google and Starbucks are able to keep down their UK tax liabilities.
But many respondents added that ire should be should be directed towards tax policymakers rather than individual firms, whose “directors have a fiduciary duty to minimise tax bills providing they are acting ethically and not inviting legal or other enforcement risks.”
Respondents were divided over the principal role of business, with 56% saying increasing profits was the primary aim and the remaining 44% believing firms should mainly strive to improve the lives of the world’s citizens and come up with practical sustainable solutions.
The findings show that business leaders “are in a Catch-22 situation where their responsibility to shareholders can often conflict with their responsibility to wider society”, said Korn/Ferry senior client partner Dominic Schofield.
He added, “While they believe that anger over tax affairs should be directed more at tax legislators… there is a real sense of understanding about why the displeasure exists. Many respondents pointed out that a company should try to strike an appropriate balance when looking after the interests of stakeholders.”
