SME owners' time consumed by admin
Many SMEs spend more time on admin than on strategy planning, a survey finds
Many SMEs spend more time on admin than on strategy planning, a survey finds
RESEARCH has found that administration is one of the most time-consuming activities for small business owners in the UK.
According to the American Express Small Business Barometer, 55% of SME leaders listed admin as one of the three activities they spend most time doing. In addition, 48% listed strategy and planning, whilst 43% put customer relations in their top three.
The results suggest that many SME leaders are spending too much time with administering their businesses rather than utilising their creativity and dynamism to drive their business forward.
The research also found that SME leaders UK are happy with their jobs and optimistic about the future of their business. Around 93% of small business owners are either “very” or “quite” happy with their business.
The main factors that promoted this job satisfaction were cited as “being master of my own destiny” (70%), “doing something I like or believe in” (66%) and “reaping the benefits of my own efforts” (42%).
Commenting on their performance for the first five months of this year, 40% of those interviewed said they had achieved growth, with 43% saying business had remained flat.
Looking ahead to the future, the barometer found that 56% of small business owners expected their business to grow over the coming year, with only 12% believing their business would contract.
More about:
In the past decade, the professional services industry has transformed significantly. Digital disruptions, increased competition, and changing market ...
View resourceIn recent months, professional services firms are facing more pressure than ever to deliver value to clients. Often, clients look at the firms own inf...
View resourceIn a world of instant results and automated workloads, the potential for AP to drive insights and transform results is enormous. But, if you’re still ...
View resourceThe first phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) saw the requirement for the digital submission of the VAT Return using compliant software. That’s now behi...
View resourceA lack of strong leadership, primarily caused by a “soft skills gap”, is preventing SMEs from tackling the myriad of challenges they face, according t...
View articleDeloitte has made a move into the SME market with Propel, a cloud-based, £2.5m accounting services tool Read More...
View articleSmall businesses are paying more than £20,000 in admin costs during their first year of trading, with much of that cost coming from unexpected account...
View articleThe tax code must be cut if the government wants to reach £10bn in business cost savings, says ICAEW chief Michael Izza Read More...
View articleColin wonders whether some SMEs are keeping it too simple Read More...
View articleSMEs line up growth in 2014, but unsure about taking aggressive action to drive forward, finds Baker Tilly survey Read More...
View articleSMEs and small caps slow to apply shared services, ‘right-sourcing’ and technological best practice, research finds Read More...
View articleDespite generally positive sentiment towards the banks, many businesses are looking to alternative methods of financing Read More...
View article