UK Business Barometer

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The February UK Business Adviser Barometer survey questionnaire received 156 responses. It focused on the most common motivation for starting a business, reasons for taking up management training, rights to flexitime, red tape, start up challenges for women, Business Adviser Practices, winning new business, rising business insurance premia, crime and security, raising finance and risk assessment

Having more control over one's future appears, to just over half of our respondents, to be the most common motive for starting a business. Second to this, with a response of 26%, is the perception of a new business opportunity, and becoming better off came out third, but with only 10% of respondents believing that their clients were mainly motivated by this. Nowadays it appears that succession in a family business only applies to a fraction of a percentage (0.5%) of Business Advisors clients.

A response to a question in the November Survey indicated that nearly 80% of Advisers believe that less than 25% of their clients have received any formal management training prior to starting their own business. In this survey 70% of respondents showed their belief that the most likely encouragement to take on management training by clients is the prospect of more immediate business benefits. This out distanced cost and convenience factors, and the prospect of on-line training received a zero response.

The new flexible working provision for parents was thought to have only a slight detrimental effect on clients by 48% of respondents. 12% thought the provision would actually have some positive effect, although this was counterbalanced by 12% who thought it would be highly detrimental.

The time spent in coping with red tape frequently crops up in discussion about the UK business environment. Respondents to the UKBAB, like those to the Business Barometer, find that employment and taxation are the two areas that are most time consuming, but the balance between them is different. Businesses responding to the UKBB survey were more evenly split between employment and taxation, while nearly three times as many Business Advisers rate employment as most time consuming rather than taxation.

Most advisers - 60% - believe it is no harder for women than men to start a business. 37% of Advisers think that family commitments is the most likely challenge to a woman wanting to start a business, followed by level of confidence (25%). This result is in broad agreement with that from the similar question posed in February's UK Business Barometer Survey.

47% of respondents would give serious consideration and 32% would give some consideration to an invitation to join colleagues in establishing a 'Business Adviser Practice'. This follows a question in November 2002 in which 56% of respondents agreed that such a Practice would a model for the future of business support services.

73% of respondents to the Business Adviser survey find hat the most effective way of winning new business is through recommendations and referrals. For 23% the question was not applicable and the remaining 5% were spread between different forms of marketing approach - except through directories.

It was widely reported recently that smaller businesses were facing very large increases in insurance premia, to the extent that some were risking continuing without appropriate cover. Business advisers were asked if they see this danger for their business clients, and 61% thought there would be a significant impact on the level of cover taken by their clients. A similar question was asked in the UK Business Barometer and there was an overwhelming response of 84% of businesses thinking this danger exists to a high or relatively high extent.

There was wide disparity among respondents to crime and security being an issue for their clients, with 23% feeling that it was insignificant and 15% did not know. When a similar question was posed in the October 2002 UKBB, the result from the business respondents was that only 12% regarded the issue as insignificant. .

Just over one third of Advisers say that between one quarter and one half of their clients have had difficulty in raising finance. Among advisers where less than 25% of clients have had problems of this nature, 4% have no problems at all, whereas 11% of Advisers find that more than 75% of their clients encounter obstacles to obtaining finance. .

Risk Assessments are not a popular activity among businesses according to the Advisers responding to this survey. 17% of Advisers believe that none of their clients carry out regular risk assessments, and 76% believe that less than 25% of their clients regularly assess risk. Only 2% of Advisers have more than 50% of clients who undertake regular assessments. .