NEW AGE PENSION SCHEMES – A SMALL BUSINESS LIFELINE SMALL BUSINESSES DON’T KNOW ABOUT

HW FINANCIAL SERVICES

MANCHESTER AND PRESTON

PRESS RELEASE

January 5, 2011.

NEW AGE PENSION SCHEMES – A SMALL BUSINESS LIFELINE SMALL BUSINESSES DON’T KNOW ABOUT.

Video.

Struggling North West small company owners may be sitting on a cash lifeline for their business – and not even realise it.

Ann-Marie Banks, a senior financial planner with HW Financial Services, part of UK top 20 chartered accountants Haines Watts, says business owners who have stayed abreast of pension developments are well aware that SSAS pensions - Small Self Administered Schemes, or company pensions – are designed to allow up to 50% of the pension value to be loaned back to the business.

“The pensions industry changed a great deal from April 2006, with lots of businesses taking out SIPPS – Self Invested Personal Pensions - which are still great vehicles to use, but for smaller owner-managed businesses there are other pensions vehicles such as SSAS – Small Self Administered Schemes, company pensions - schemes which are invested in same way as a SIPS is, but can still facilitate flexibility back to a biz when times might be difficult with regard to borrowing.

“Alternatively, these schemes can actually just provide a business with a lifeline for a short period while they get themselves back on track. SSAS schemes can generally lend up to 50% of the pension assets back to the company, so they’re not just about self-investment in, say, property, they can help the business to progress,” said Ann-Marie Banks, who is based in Manchester and Preston, and has responsibility for Merseyside and Cumbria clients. Video.

Haines Watts is a UK top 20 chartered accountancy firm specialising in the owner-managed sector, providing a broad range of services out of its 50 offices. The firm has 80 years experience and 30,000 clients.

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Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.hwca.com

Photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pressrelations/5265365689/in/set-72157624275784545/

NORTH WEST SMALL BUSINESS FIVE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO CONSULT PEERS THAN BANK

HAINES WATTS

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

PRESS RELEASE

September 16, 2010.

NORTH WEST SMALL BUSINESS FIVE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO CONSULT PEERS THAN BANK.

Video here.

Photos here.

Only around a tenth of North West small business owners would consult their banks when making an investment or “sense checking” business decisions, with more than half saying they’d speak with their peers instead.

That’s one of several surprising findings from a survey by UK top-20 accountants Haines Watts that indicates there’s a new financial world order when it comes to who owner-managers rely upon for business advice.

Peers are most likely to be consulted (53%), followed by accountants (49%), friends and family (22%), banks, (10%) management consultants (4.5%) and lawyers (4%).

“The banks used to have a vast range of experience with some of their managers, and businesses obviously relied upon that. But some of those experienced people have been lost from the system, and they seem to be heading for a more risk-averse approach, and the link between bank and customers seems to have gone,” said David Fort, partner at UK top 20 chartered accountancy firm Haines Watts in Manchester and Preston. (Watch video interview)

“There are now two key groups that business owners consult: one is their peers – they look for advice and ideas from other business men – and the other is accountants, like us, who understand their business and can be relied upon to give an external view.

“Historically, small business relied upon bank managers, but in recent times there’s been a growing concern that banks have become more systemised and are losing that contact with their clients.”

The survey indicates that lawyers have lost their one-time role as trusted business advisers, with just 3.97% of business owners saying they would go to them to benchmark or “sense check” business decisions.

Small owner-managed businesses are the powerhouse of the UK economy: of the 4.7 million businesses in the UK, 99.3% are small firms with fewer than 50 employees.

Of the 8,700 owner-managed businesses invited to take the Haines Watts Business Owner Survey, 645 responded giving a response rate of 7.4%. A selection of business owners were further invited to take part in in-depth interviews.

Haines Watts is a UK top 20 chartered accountancy firm specialising in the owner-managed sector, providing a broad range of services out of its 50 offices. The firm has 80 years experience and 30,000 clients.

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Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.hwca.com

http://www.hwca.com/offices/accountants-north-west.php

WE NEED MORE NORTH WEST STREET-SAVVY RISK TAKERS, NOT OVER-FORMULATED BUSINESS EDUCATION, SAYS ACCOUNTANT.

HAINES WATTS

PRESS RELEASE

July 26, 2010.

WE NEED MORE NORTH WEST STREET-SAVVY RISK TAKERS, NOT OVER-FORMULATED BUSINESS EDUCATION, SAYS ACCOUNTANT.

Video here.

Photos here.

Business needs more “street-savvy” risk-taking entrepreneurs to counter the massive rise in the number of graduates who have a formulated view of how to run a business.

David Fort, partner at UK top 20 chartered accountancy firm Haines Watts in Manchester and Preston, says business education training and funding should be switched from the public sector and into the hands of the employers (Watch video).

“In a Haines Watts survey of business owners, a common comment was ‘a degree does not a businessman make’. Businesses and the private sector need to develop education and training programmes which are not just specific to the skills they require, but also reflect the culture of that business,” he said.

“Accountants may have a reputation as being amongst the most risk-averse of professionals, but our view is that the North West needs more risk-takers – but harnessed and guided by private sector-run training to channel that raw commercial talent.

“More people than ever are going on to higher education, but people coming out of university are arriving in the jobs market with a much more formulated and samey structure in terms of their attitude to business,” he said.

“The rapid expansion in the numbers going through higher education may be good for the UK’s professions, but the owner-managed business sector is not seeing the benefits of the investment. Frankly, not many graduates are emerging as potential business leaders and owners. I question whether higher education is actually preparing graduates for the world of work.

“Our survey showed that a third of current North West business owners left school at 16, a further 22% with qualifications no higher than A-level; those who left school at 16 got out into the real world, taking risks, employing people – this is how we ended up in the UK with the likes of Richard Branson, Alan Sugar, John Caudwell and so on.

“Small owner-managed businesses are the powerhouse of the UK economy: of the 4.7 million businesses in the UK, 99.3% are small firms with fewer than 50 employees, yet most business training seems to be more about how to play a management role in steadying or maintaining the course of business monoliths rather than creating business and jobs through raw ambition and risk-taking,” said David Fort.

Of the 8,700 businesses invited to take the Haines Watts Business Owner Survey, 645 responded giving a response rate of 7.4%. A selection of business owners were further invited to take part in in-depth interviews.

Haines Watts is a UK top 20 chartered accountancy firm specialising in the owner-managed sector, providing a broad range of services out of its 50 offices. The firm has 80 years experience and 30,000 clients.

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Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.hwca.com

http://www.hwca.com/offices/accountants-north-west.php

ONLY 16% OF NORTH WEST FAMILY BUSINESSES WILL STAY IN THE FAMILY.

HAINES WATTS

PRESS RELEASE

July 20, 2010.

ONLY 16% OF NORTH WEST FAMILY BUSINESSES WILL STAY IN THE FAMILY.

Watch video.

Download photo.

Only 16% of North West businesses owners will hand control to younger family members when they decide to retire or exit, and 42% of business owners are worried they’ll never extract capital or monetise their investment.

Those are some of the key findings of a survey of owner-managed businesses by UK top 20 chartered accountancy firm Haines Watts.

“Despite economic circumstances, there’s value to be maximised and money to be made provided a business owner has a plan – and I believe there’s a lot of businesses in the North West who are perhaps sitting on more value than they realise,” said David Fort, partner, Haines Watts Manchester and Preston (Watch video).

“But the thought that business owners will not get value out of their business come retirement is obviously a major issue, and while, historically, owner-managed businesses have been passed down to other family members, currently only 16% say they’ll now do that.

“I would say that the number of family businesses being passed on to other family members has decreased rapidly in the past five years, and that the traditional family firm is going to become a very rare beast.

“That’s not to say that there are not options for the 84% of business owners who won’t pass their business on, but it is crucial to take advice and put a plan in place that will take three to five years to drive through to fruition.

“Tax planning is vital, though, and what might seem to be pricey advice early in the process could save a fortune come exit time – for instance, one business owner made some unusual tax structure decisions aimed at mitigating the cost of school fees, but the arrangement wound up costing him several hundred thousand pounds more on the sale of the business than the saving he had made.”

Of the 8,700 businesses invited to take the Haines Watts Business Owner Survey, 645 responded giving a response rate of 7.4%. A selection of business owners were further invited to take part in in-depth interviews.

Haines Watts is a UK top 20 chartered accountancy firm specialising in the owner-managed sector, providing a broad range of services out of its 50 offices. The firm has 80 years experience and 30,000 clients.

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Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

http://www.hwca.com/offices/accountants-north-west.php

Photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pressrelations/sets/72157624275784545/

NORTH WEST BUSINESS OWNERS MORE LIKELY TO BE ASKED FOR PERSONAL GUARANTEES

HAINES WATTS

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

PRESS RELEASE

July 12, 2010.

NORTH WEST BUSINESS OWNERS MORE LIKELY TO BE ASKED FOR PERSONAL GUARANTEES.

Watch video.

One in three North West business owners are being asked by banks to provide personal guarantees to support their companies - higher than the UK average, and more than twice as many as in the East Midlands.

Chartered accountants Haines Watts surveyed 8,700 owner-managed businesses, and, from the responses received, found that 31.63% of company owners in the North West region had been asked by their banks to provide personal guarantees compared to 15.38% in the East Midlands, just over 17% in Scotland, 21.74% in the South East and 24.77% in the West Midlands. The national average is 25%.

“Small owner-managed businesses are the powerhouse of the UK economy: of the 4.7 million businesses in the UK, 99.3% are small firms with fewer than 50 employees, yet they feel they’re being forced to drive round with the handbrake on,” said David Fort, a Partner with Haines Watts Manchester. (Watch video, 1 min 36 secs.)

“People in business need access to finance, the banks have got to release the purse strings; 31% of business owners in the North West say they’ve been asked to provide personal guarantees, which is far higher than just about anywhere else in the country.”

But despite that handicap, David Fort says the signs are that the North West region is amongst the best placed in the UK to drive recovery.

“The North West is actually ideally placed; it has fantastic businesses, fantastic business leaders and a great workforce,” he said.

“But we do need more support from a government which should be looking at more ways of backing businesses, particularly with regard to releasing funding, taxation and how tax changes might give businesses an extra incentive to grow.

“On a basic level, we also have an excellent education system in the North West, it creates useful workers, but some graduates come out of university without the basic skills business requires, so companies should be encouraged to train their own staff so they gain relevant skills.”

Of the 8,700 businesses invited to take the Haines Watts Business Owner Survey, 645 responded giving a response rate of 7.4%. A selection of business owners were further invited to take part in in-depth interviews.

Haines Watts is a UK top 20 chartered accountancy firm specialising in the owner-managed sector, providing a broad range of services out of its 50 offices. The firm has 80 years experience and 30,000 clients.

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.hwca.com