Banks, credit insurers and trade suppliers have all been banging a drum for the last nine months about how important it is for SMEs to open up their management accounts if they want access to credit and finance in today's "credit crunch" world.
I'm just wondering how much of this message has got through to Britain's traditional conservative small businessmen. Has there been a gradual, albeit reticent, acceptance by SMEs that larger organisations won't make credit decisions based on what they suspect is out of date information from Companies House?
Talking to some accountants the other day, the same old tired arguments come out of the woodwork as to why SMEs won't open up their books to obtain credit facilities. "The competition will see what we're up to!" is one old barrier erected. Boy, that's going to stop a successful business in its tracks isn't it?
"They're none of your business.What's my accounts got to do with you? "
Well, if a credit insurer is being asked to cover the risk of default on behalf of one of its policyholders wanting to trade with you, quite a bit actually.

Next week, a new service is going to launched which will provide an easy way for SMEs to make extracts of their management accounts available to the outside world in order to obtain more credit from up til now reticent and wary lenders and credit grantors. It won't attract SMEs who are struggling, but hopefully, Creditpal will offer a chance to companies bucking the recessionary market trends who want to tell their success stories. The construction trade hasn't had an easy ride for two years, but there are thousands of builders out there, tarred with a bad brush, who are actually doing OK, thank you. Maybe Creditpal will help them and others like them, get the credit they actually deserve.