Creating the right conditions for businesses to grow and succeed was at the centre of new business legislation announced in the Queen’s Speech delivered on Wednesday this week. The main elements include measures to set the purpose of the UK Green Investment Bank and ensure its independence, implement the competition landscape reforms, overhaul the employment[...] Read more »

Amidst all the recent doom and gloom it was encouraging to see that a report, looking at the turnover of 4,000 UK businesses, revealed the first quarter of 2012 was the best performing quarter, year-on-year since the start of the economic downturn in 2007.   More businesses reported an increase in new customers and confidence,[...] Read more »

Figures issued this week indicates that the UK has entered a technical recession … i.e. Two successive Quarters of negative growth. So, time to explore in more detail what measures are used to assess the health of the UK economy, in particular … GDP. GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, is arguably the most important of[...] Read more »

As we have often said, keeping receipts is essential for any business ….. and there is now fresh evidence to support this view. One of the biggest failures of small businesses is not claiming the full amount of VAT they’re entitled to. Poor management of expenses in this area alone means they’re failing to claim[...] Read more »

In our conversations with others, we would all like to tell the truth as part of doing business, tackling new challenges, or resolving hard issues. However, the task can be difficult, as we often fear that a difficult conversation will turn into an angry confrontation, stirring up emotions and causing a distraction. “Why wreck another[...] Read more »

Surrey has the highest number of ‘recession-era’ start-ups defying the downturn with big turnovers, new figures have revealed. Around one in seven businesses that started up in the area in the last three years are turning over more than £100,000, compared to the national average of one in ten. The research reveals that the dream[...] Read more »

Love is in the air today… And when you have your own business, nobody loves your business like you do. After all, wasn’t that why you started it in the first place – because you have a real passion for it? But as with any relationship, how well do you know your partner, in this[...] Read more »

… And how you cope will dictate if your business succeeds or stagnates ! Innovation may well allow you to generate new streams of income for your business. And New Product Development is vital to delivering growth and improved profitability – but it’s also the most difficult to do well. To help, I’d like to[...] Read more »