March 20th, 2010
While the weather outside maybe warming up, according to a recent survey conducted by business consultants KHPG, there is still a distinct chill in the air of most offices when it comes to terminating pay freezes.
For many employers, having to make members of their team redundant was an unfortunate consequence of the recession. As was having to implement a ‘pay freeze’ policy. However, as the UK is now officially out of recession and many sectors of enterprise are experiencing growth, you would expect that for most employees their salary would return to pre-recessionary levels. But this is not the case.
While over eighty per cent of all business owners say that they have no plans to make any more redundancies in 2010, over forty per cent of all respondents have said that they do not plan to offer their employees any salary increases over the next year.
Clare King, new business manager at KHPG, comments; “From the feedback we have received from our clients, it is clear to see that while the economy is undoubtedly recovering, market conditions area still tough. Therefore, I would suggest that for many employees pay freezes are likely to continue well into 2011.”
Posted in Company Finance | No Comments »
March 19th, 2010
What with the Iraq war enquiry and the fact that the country seems to be in the grip of election fever, much has been made in the media about the fact that our armed forces are fighting the war without adequate equipment. Yet, there has been little in the media about what ex-members of the armed forces, do after they leave the army. However, all that is about to change, as the government announces it plans to help ex-service members through the company formation and the process of starting their own business.
According to a government commissioned report, most ex-servicemen, feel that they receive little or no support once they leave the army. As a result the government has allocated over four million pounds to help them with the costs of forming and running their own company.
A spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise said that the fund is to help support ex-service personnel develop and run their own company and will help finance the growth of their business. The fund will also be available to servicemen who left the armed forces over nine years ago.
Richard Gilbert, a former member of the RAF, comments: “While the armed forces do offer support to discharged officers to help them deal with the challenges of returning to civilian life, they do not offer much practical advice when it comes to future employment. This scheme is a great idea and one I am sure will be put to much use.”
Posted in Business Planning | No Comments »
March 18th, 2010
After experiencing a disappointing Christmas, many small businesses and recent company formation owners, expected profits to rise as consumers hit the high street, in the hope of grabbing a bargain. However, as a consequence of the freezing weather conditions of the last few months, many retailers were bitterly disappointed and the high street suffered another devastating blow.
Now, as the weather improves and it looks that summer is finally on its way, the Forum of Small Business have commissioned a survey to establish exactly what the ‘Big Freeze’ cost the UK’s SME sector.
The report estimated that the adverse weather cost the high street just over six and a half billion pounds. Over fifty per cent of all small business owners asked, said that the ‘big freeze’ damaged their business, while over forty five per cent claimed that they had to suspend any plans they had to grow their company until profits increased.
Economist Andrew Shepherd comments; “The high street and SME sector has been fighting a war on all fronts during the last few months. Not only did they have to compete with the growing dominance of online shopping, they also had to contend with freezing weather and a hostile market. It was not what you would call a good start to the New Year and yet despite these challenges, the majority of small business owners still feel optimistic about 2010.”
Posted in Company Finance | No Comments »
March 17th, 2010
When the economic downturn first struck and making redundancies became a reality for many small businesses and company formation owners, protocol and procedure went out the window, claims a recent report by the human resource website ‘Staff Seekers’. Now it appears that some corporations may face employees seeking redress and – in some cases – litigation.
Almost a third of all people who have been made redundant, feel that that the process was handled incorrectly, say the CIPD. In some of the cases employees reported being told that they should leave the same day, while others reported that their redundancy settlements were insufficient.
Claire Thomas, who was made redundant six months ago, comments on her experience; “ Most employees probably fail to understand the huge implications being made redundant has on that employee; you go through feeling humiliated and then it begins having an impact on your personal confidence, While I accept that being made redundant was a consequence of the recession for many people including business owners of recent company formation owner, I don’t think there is enough support available for those people who have been made redundant to get them back into the work place.”
Matthew Harrison, founder and CEO of Staff Seekers, comments: ‘Historically, redundancies were kept very private within an organization and in many cases the employee was asked to sign a confidentiality agreement as part of their settlement. However, now as the ‘credit-crunch’ and redundancy occupied the front pages of most newspapers each day over the past year, redundancy has become news. Subsequently employers who have handled the process incorrectly will be identified and in some cases punished.”
Posted in Recession | No Comments »
March 16th, 2010
Since the recession struck the current administration has been criticized by its failure to practically help small businesses. Many small business owners called for an election and felt that a changing the party in power would be of massive benefit to enterprise.
However, a recent report conducted by the Federation of Small Businesses has found that this is no longer the case.
The poll surveyed over three thousand business owners throughout the UK and found that over forty per cent felt that a change from the current Labour government would not help small business.
Jessica Kelly, founder and CEO of new media agency ‘Tank Media’ comments; “The SME sector has been completely failed by the government. While they initially made some small steps to helping, such as the Late Payment Charter and reducing VAT, these were largely ineffectual. However, that doesn’t mean that I think changing the party in power would make a dramatic difference to enterprise. With the MP’s expenses scandal and all the spin, I think one is as bad as the other.”
Leigh Gough, enterprise director at the FSB comments: ‘The findings of our report indicate that while the country is now officially out of recession and the economy is starting to show signs of recovery, the SME sector are still resentful about the way in which the government has treated them during the economic downturn.”
Posted in Company Formation News | No Comments »
March 15th, 2010
While the small business sector may have lost faith in politics, they are confident about the future of the economy, according to a recent report, conducted by Santander.
The report found that over seventy per cent of small business owners think that their company will grow in 2010. While over ninety per cent comment that they plan to recruit at least one new staff member over the next three months.
Findings of the report also revealed that most small business owners have made a substantial personal financial commitment throughout the recession instead of relying on banks.
Thomas Cox, director of finance and enterprise at Santander, comments: ‘The findings of this report showed that things are definitely getting better for the SME sector. It also indicated that many small company owners have looked for different ways of improving their business. Indeed from diversifying their product or services to changing their marketing platforms, it seems that innovation is key to surviving any economic downturn.”
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March 14th, 2010
According to Liberal Democrat Vince Cable, start up businesses which have good credit and viable business models are being refused credit from most banks and are left confused about the reasons behind it. Cable claims that this is stunting the growth of the SME sector and hindering the UK’s economic recovery.
According to a recent report by the FSB, over twenty per cent of all businesses refused finance in the last are unaware of the reason.
Richard Evans, founder of the FSB, comments: “Throughout the process of applying for additional finance businesses are obliged to provide bank with an entire portfolio of previous credit history. Therefore, it seems only fair that if a company’s finance application has been rejected, that the banks inform them of the reasons behind their decision”
Lending to small businesses fell to an all time low throughout the last quarter of 2009 and while nationalized banks Lloyds TSB are obligated to lend over £26 billion to businesses by the end of March, it looks unlikely that they will reach this.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
March 13th, 2010
Christmas 2009 will go down in history as the year the small businesses sector realised they needed to get online. Consumer behaviour appeared to change forever as people preferred to go online to do their Christmas shopping. Consequently high street retailers struggled like never before, while their online counterparts enjoyed record sales. Something had to change and the government launched a scheme to help small businesses develop an online presence. However, getting a website is only the first step to realising your businesses potential online.
As with all marketing activity, your website must have a clear objective; do you plan to sell directly from it, do you want it to drive footfall offline or will it act merely as a brand platform? It is vital you define your objectives from the beginning, only then can you begin to measure its success.
One of the main reasons why online advertising has overtaken all forms of traditional advertising, from television and radio to print media, is due to the transparency it offers. The same applies if you are running your own website. You can track all activity on your website and –crucially – gain an understanding of your customers and the way they interact with your brand.
Matthew Wright, owner of jewellery business Smith & Sons comments; “Our business was badly hit by the recession and we knew we had to adopt our model. So we built a website and have been completely overwhelmed by the value it has added to our business.”
Posted in Marketing | 2 Comments »
March 12th, 2010
Four decades on from when women were urged to ‘burn their bras’, it seems that regardless of the various feminist campaigns devised to address gender inequality in the workplace, it still very much existing in the contemporary working environment.
A report, conducted by the FDA, has found that over 30% of all female entrepreneurs think that they are not receiving enough finance to start their business and they think that fell it is harder for a female entrepreneur than a male entrepreneur to gain access to funding.
The findings of the report revealed that just over forty per cent of women postpone starting their own company due to a lack of available funding and those women over forty are more likely to start their own business than women aged between twenty to thirty.
Hannah Evans, operations manager of Women in Business, commented: “While we have obviously come along way in terms of addressing gender inequality in the workplace, as the findings of this survey confirm, it still very much exists.”
“Female employees are still getting paid, on average, 20% less than their male counterparts while the number of women in top managerial positions in business in dramatically low. It is the responsibility of both the government and financial service provider, to ensure women are made aware of the wide range of financial and educational support available to female entrepreneurs.”
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March 11th, 2010
According to a recent report, conducted by business insurance consultants ‘Your Business’, one of the biggest challenges the small businesses have faced during the recession, is late payment and bad debt.
The survey found that throughout the last two years almost fifty per cent of the SME sector have incurred some element of bad debt. While over forty per cent say that they are owed over eight thousand pounds or more as a consequence of business insolvencies.
Matthew Packham, managing director of ‘Your Business’ comments; “The findings of this repot, while concerning, are not surprising. Throughout the recession, bad debt and late payment have been a reality for most companies and, in some cases, have resulted in the demise of businesses.”
“It is vital that small businesses protect themselves from bad debt and develop a strategy of what to do if bad debt occurs.”
The report found that companies in the south of England were worst effected by late payment and bad debt.
Posted in Recession | 1 Comment »
