Category Archives: FInance

FInance, Marketing, PR and SEO

Fiverr Launches monthly Micro-Grant for UK SMEs

Freelancer platform Fiverr this week launches a new monthly micro-grant to help UK SMEs source the creative skills they need to grow.

The grant – which gives entrepreneurs £500 to spend on the Fiverr platform – has already had over 2,800 applications in just three days, proving high demand amongst British small businesses.

The first month’s prize also includes an additional £500 cash.

Andrew Wray, Fiverr’s UK Country Manager, said:

“Running a small business today means being an expert at everything, from marketing to sales to tech. It’s demanding and when extra hands are required, Fiverr provides easy access to affordable, high-quality freelance support.

“We hope this Micro-Grant campaign goes a little way to helping some of the UK’s 5.9m small businesses thrive and strengthen their position as the backbone of the British economy.”

To be eligible to enter, companies must have fewer than 250 staff – and they can apply via the Fiverr website: https://lp.fiverr.com/ukmicrogrant/. Four winners per month will be chosen based on the quality of their business ideas.

The Micro-Grant is another step towards increased engagement with the UK, after Fiverr launched its first London office in March.

FInance

2.2 million employees ‘experience late pay’ thanks to company cash flow issues

Research carried out by Intuit QuickBooks reveals that UK business owners are regularly failing to pay their staff on time.

The results are revealed in the UK findings of its global research project “The State of Small Business Cash Flow”, which focused on the behaviours, attitudes and status of cash flow challenges experienced by small businesses and the self-employed. Challenges they identified for businesses are:

  • Almost 1 in 7 UK small business owners have been left unable to pay employees – which means 2.2 million people in the UK may not have been paid on time because their employer had cash-flow issues
  • 57% of UK small business owners have experienced problems with their cash flow
  • Over a third (38%) of UK small business owners who have had cash flow issues have been left unable to pay debts
  • UK small business owners lose £26,000 on average by being forced to turn down work, specifically due to issues created by insufficient cash flow
  • Cash flow issues can be caused by late payments from clients and customers, a decline in sales and a lack of rigorous cash management. Problems with cash flow can ultimately seriously endanger a small business’ capacity to continue operating, resulting in management being unable to pay staff and suppliers.

The issue of late payments was recently addressed in the Spring Statement as a major concern for UK small businesses. According to statistics from the BACS payment scheme, the direct cost of late payments to small businesses is £2 billion[1]. As such, the Government has committed to the introduction of payment practice reporting, which will require large companies to review and report on how they’re paying their suppliers in their annual accounts.

The QuickBooks research also found that UK small businesses have on average £31,055 in debts owed to them and 71% of small business owners have been kept up at night by concerns about cash flow.

Chris Evans, VP and Country Manager at Intuit QuickBooks, said:

“Cash is oxygen for small businesses and without it they cannot breathe. The combination of chasing invoices and bad payment practices mean small businesses run out of accessible cash. This has a real impact on their ability to take on new work, pay suppliers, their employees or themselves on time.”

The QuickBooks platform helps businesses get paid faster, with less hassle, so they have funds to run and grow. Data analysis has shown that raising an invoice on mobile gets people paid after an average of eight days, instead of 28 and digital bookkeeping ensures every time an invoice is sent, a customer makes a payment or an employee gets paid, the information is tracked and updated.

QuickBooks also found that over half (54%) of UK small business owners run manual calculations in programs such as Excel to track their business’s bill payments. Using Excel leaves businesses at risk of important information, such as expenses, falling through the cracks.

As the 1 April deadline for Making Tax Digital (MTD) approaches, now is the time for small businesses to fully embrace digital to make their accounting processes – and by extension their lives – easier.

The study also showed that self-employed people are amongst those that can experience cash flow issues the most. They are 2.5x more likely than SMBs with up to 49 employees to experience cash flow issues on multiple occasions; yet are over 3x less likely than any other group to have ever applied for a loan. Financial Management Software (FMS) such as QuickBooks can therefore be a vital tool in supporting people who work for themselves – providing insight into business finances, enabling decisions such as taking out a loan to be made early and with confidence, and ultimately heading off repeat cash flow difficulty.

Chris Evans added:

“It’s time to realise digitisation in the back-office is not just a nice to have, but essential to the prosperity of any company. With features like automatically nudging clients to pay invoices, digital accounting can help tackle bad payment practices, reducing the time to get paid and free up time for business owners to invest in themselves or their business.”

For more information about how QuickBooks can help solve everyday issues for small businesses, visit www.quickbooks.co.uk

[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/late-payments-uk-business-cost-sme-2-billion-a-year-bacs-payment-customers-a7846781.html

[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/late-payments-uk-business-cost-sme-2-billion-a-year-bacs-payment-customers-a7846781.html

Business Reports, FInance

Atradius forecast predicts global insolvencies will rise for first time in a decade

A new economic research report from Atradius forecasts that global insolvencies are set to grow for the first time in a decade, with the UK expected to be in the eye of the storm.

The Insolvency Forecast by the leading trade credit insurer reports an expected rise in insolvencies of 7% in the UK in 2019, the highest increase of all advanced markets. The insolvency outlook has deteriorated following a sharp loss of economic momentum in late 2018 and into 2019. Brexit related uncertainty is a key factor and is reflected in contractions in business investment for four consecutive quarters, with the postponement of investment decisions also having significant impact for supply chains. The impact is most severe in the retail and construction sectors and is set to continue with both business and consumer sentiment remaining low.

The forecast 7% increase for UK in 2019 follows the substantial increase of 10% in 2018. However, Atradius warns that this forecast is based on an orderly Brexit and smooth transition period. The ongoing uncertainty over an agreed exit deal continues to weigh heavily on the economy.

On a global scale, after nearly a decade of annual improvements in the number of corporate insolvencies, 2019 is expected to mark the first year of increase in insolvency levels since the financial crisis. With the world economy forecast to grow only 2.7% in 2019, Atradius anticipates an increase of 1% in insolvencies for advanced markets – the first rise since 2009 marking the end of the recovery cycle. Western Europe as a whole is expected to be the worst performing global region with an average increase in insolvencies of 2%. Following the UK at 7%, Italy is forecast to see a 6% rise in insolvencies driven by the onset of recession in H2 of 2018 with negative domestic demand and a fragile economic outlook, clouded by political volatility. Meanwhile, Switzerland and Sweden are expected to see a 3% growth in insolvencies with a 2% increase in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Norway. More positively, the forecast for Luxembourg is more positive with an expected 10% decline in insolvencies, albeit following a 28% increase last year. Insolvencies in Greece are forecast to drop by 8%, thanks to its strongest economic performance in a decade, and by 5% in Spain, driven by employment growth and stronger consumption. US bankruptcies are forecast to remain at current levels with a decline of 1% in Canada. In Japan, insolvencies are forecast to increase 2% with a drop of 2% in Australia and 3% in New Zealand.

Simon Rocket of trade partner Atradius, which protects businesses from the risk of trading domestically and overseas, said:

“Uncertainty continues to dominate the economic landscape with an inevitable negative impact for trade. However, businesses cannot afford to stand still and therefore must find a way to navigate these challenging conditions. Risk is an inherent part of trade in any economic environment and goes with the territory. But, despite the current climate, opportunities for trade growth are still out there and can be seized with the right approach to risk management.

“Equipped with comprehensive business intelligence and real-time expert insight into trading conditions in the market and by understanding the credit strength of their customer a business can move forward with confidence. Trade credit insurance has been supporting business in the UK for a a 100 years and plays an important role in defining a successful trade journey. At Atradius, we have continued to evolve our service and product to ensure we successfully support businesses; our unrivalled expertise and experience not only enables trade but also provides protection from the risks.”

For more information about Atradius and to access a suite of free economic, country and payment practices reports, visit www.atradius.co.uk or follow @AtradiusUK on Twitter and AtradiusUK on LinkedIn