24 Sep 2019

More than three quarters of London businesses would like to see a place for financial education within the national curriculum, according to the CBI London Business Survey in partnership with Wilson Wright, the London School of Economics (LSE) and Russell Reynolds Associates.

The finding is contained in the chapter of the CBI London Business Survey Report that discusses optimising tech and financial opportunities to encourage innovation and growth, on which City accountancy, tax and business advisory firm Wilson Wright took the lead.

Of the 77 per cent who agreed that financial education should be part of the national curriculum, nearly half strongly agreed with the proposal.

In response to the finding, the report recommends that policymakers: ‘Enable young people to apply their skills to real-life situations: ensure we have a broad and balanced curriculum which prepares young people for the modern world. This should include providing students with the chance to apply their knowledge in real-life scenarios, demonstrating for example, how their maths skills relate to personal and business finance‘.

Adam Cramer, CEO & Partner at Wilson Wright, has recently visited several schools across London to discuss and take part in initiatives including student networking events and work experience placements. He said:

“While vitally important, academic skills alone are not enough to succeed in business and I think that is one of the reasons why respondents to the CBI London Business Survey backed the idea of including financial education in national curriculum so strongly.

An academic knowledge of maths, for example, is very useful for an entrepreneur to have but young people also need guidance on how they can deploy this academic knowledge in practice so that they can make the most of their entrepreneurial potential. It is not necessarily obvious how to make the most of this knowledge and so financial education is something that should be taught.

I hope that policymakers will take note of these findings and look to introduce financial education as part of the national curriculum.

At Wilson Wright, we are champions of entrepreneurship and do all we can to encourage and assist innovation and growth amongst the capital’s businesses.”

Adam Cramer, CEO & Partner at Wilson Wright

Amongst other findings of the CBI London Business Survey were that 87 per cent of businesses see technology as a tool for achieving greater efficiency, with 77 per cent seeing technology as a means to deliver better products or services.

Adam Cramer added:

“We are proud to have worked alongside the CBI, the LSE, Russell Reynolds Associates and the CBI on the CBI London Business Survey 2019, ensuring the voices of the capital’s businesses are heard.”

Adam Cramer, CEO & Partner at Wilson Wright