SME Business News

A small business that employs just two people has forced multinational retail store Alliance Boots into back tracking on its payment terms.
After receiving a letter from Alliance Boots that said that the company was changing it’s payment terms from 30 days to 75 days from receipt of invoice, the husband and wife team of training [...]

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Accounting Software company Kashflow, recently surveyed Small Business owners to evaluate what they perceive as the major factors in growing a company from Small to Medium sized in business.
The research revealed these top five milestones that small business owners consider they have to reach before they can consider their business to have grown to Medium [...]

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Actress and entrepreneur Jane Asher shares her experiences of setting up a business during a recession, offering tips and advice to small businesses on surviving an economic downturn.
Jane Asher set up her business Jane Asher Party Cakes in 1989, on the back of her best selling cake decorating book. It has since grown to become [...]

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Government proposals that new out of town supermarkets should be prevented if they negatively impact on smaller shops, have been welcomed by small business groups.
However there is concern that the scrapping of the current ‘need test’ is unnecessary until the new system is proven, with businesses sceptical whether the new policy will afford them the same robust [...]

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The British Chamber Of Commerce (BCC) has warned that Britain is at ’serious risk’ of a full scale recession, with suggestions that the economy is now slowing down much more quickly than experts had previously predicted.
It is the backbone of UK businesses, the service sector that is showing the worst signs, with more firms now seeing [...]

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A recent survey on the UK Business Forum asked the question, “Has The Slowdown Affected Your Turnover’”
Results from the poll showed that 40% of small business owners report that turnover has actually increased during the first part of this year.
However. of those that are seeing a growth in business the majority admit to being more [...]

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The Federation Of Small Businesses is calling on the government to maintain and improve a successful scheme that rewards local authorities for supporting SMEs and entrepreneurs.
The FSB says that the government should recognise the success of the Local Authority Business Growth Incentive Scheme by extending it’s life span.
Instead there are plans to bring in a [...]

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When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
With business confidence hitting a three year low it is surprising that a report by Tenon Forum finds that many small business owners are upbeat about their opportunities of exploiting the current situation by winning business from those companies being worst hit by the economic downturn.
Over half [...]

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The Home Office has announced that it is  ‘naming and shaming’ companies that flout the law by employing illegal immigrants, on it’s website from 19th June.
They have revealed that 35 companies have already been fined, mostly small fast food businesses, with fines ranging from £5,000 to £22,500.
The highest fines have been handed out to Besmullah Car [...]

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Funds of £115million, set aside by the government to help SMEs with staff training, has now been transferred to other budgets because of the lack of take up by small companies.
The money has been taken from the governments Train To Gain programme and switched to education and other training schemes, skills minister John Denham revealed.
“We [...]

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