ross has been described by the "scottish daily mail" as a "trusted adviser" of the prince of wales (who is duke of cornwall). in 2011, "the guardian" described the duchy as "a target-oriented investment portfolio, headed by the prince with a £200,000-a-year chief executive, bertie ross, who oversees the equivalent of 91 full-time staff." in 2005, ross was pressed by mps on the house of commons public accounts committee, who argued that the duchy's accounts should be publicly available; he rebuffed these calls, stating that "the duchy of cornwall income is private to the prince of wales. any business or estate that's private should be able to choose its own audit." other mps on the committee argued that the £11.9 million the prince was then earning annually through the duchy was "excessive"; after ross stated that the prince used this to fund his staff and duties, gerry steinberg said that "this looks very much like jiggery-pokery", a statement which made headlines. ross denied any wrong-doing.