MHA Henderson Loggie, which has offices across Scotland, is to launch Start-Up Business Month in October, a new campaign to help the rising numbers of fledgling businesses get off the ground during the current economic crisis.
The mid-tier accountancy firm will provide expert advice to help budding entrepreneurs, start-ups and small firms with less than two years of trading, navigate an unfamiliar road to success.
A new Business Support resource (https://hlca.co.uk/startup-business-support/) covers everything there is to know about running a start-up with information on how to register a new business, the pros and cons of sole trader versus limited company and the five most common mistakes made by new small business owners with tips on how to avoid them.
The accountancy firm even spills the beans on the financial side of things with advice on managing accounts and the essential need-to-know guide on VAT and other tax-related issues. Plus, guidance on the hiring of staff.
A not-to-be-missed Start-up Business webinar will be held in the last week of October for new entrepreneurs featuring expert talks and advice on business-related issues such as cashflow and business planning, payroll, accounts, tax and VAT, and Human Resources.
Director Suzanne Kerr said the new business support measure is a direct response to the predicted spike in the number of new start- ups expected in the months ahead as changes are made to the Government support schemes and the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Following the financial crash of 2008, there was a rapid rise in the numbers of new business start-ups and we’re expecting to see the same again. Economic downturn has an upside for entrepreneurs, who see opportunities in a recession to launch and grow a business.”
KEY STATS
• Statistics from the FSB (The Federation of Small Businesses) for the UK in 2019:
o There were 5.8 million small businesses at the start of 2019.
o Compared with the previous year, the private sector business population increased 3.5% (+200,000 businesses).
o The UK private sector business population is made up of 3.5 million sole proprietorships (59% of the total), 2.0 million actively trading companies (34%) and 405,000 ordinary partnerships (7%) in 2019.
o At the start of 2019 there were 5.82 million small businesses (with 0 to 49 employees), 99.3% of the total business. SMEs account for 99.9% of the business population (5.9 million businesses). SMEs account for three fifths of the employment and around half of turnover in the UK private sector.
• More than 18,000 searches per month are made in Google UK for ‘how to start a business’ (kwfinder.com)
• 65 per cent of adults in the UK - almost two thirds - wanted to start their own business according to a survey this year by microbizmag.co.uk
• There were 75,000 new companies formed in June 2020, a rise of almost 25,000 on the same time last year
Henderson Loggie
Chartered Accountants, Tax and Business Advisors based in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
