UK microbusinesses spent almost 10 weeks working on financial admin last year, according to a new report.
In Make Business Simple, Starling Bank surveyed 1,000 UK microbusinesses. The average firm clocked up 79 hours of labour a week, 15 of which go on finance admin tasks – a considerable 19% chunk of the total time. Smaller companies are disproportionately affected, with almost a third of sole traders (31%) spending a third of their time on financial admin and companies with between one and four employees spending 25% of their time in that area.
More than a quarter (27%) of microbusinesses state that they spend too much time on financial admin, rising to almost half (46%) for firms with between five and nine workers. One fifth of business owners (21%) said that if they could reduce time spent on finances, they would divert it towards sales.
Respondents also said that the most time-consuming aspect of running a business was accounting. It takes micro-firms 1.7 hours each week, equating to more than one week a year spent doing the books. Accounting was viewed as the most stressful part of running a business, being more likely to eat into downtime than any other task. A third (32%) said that this was the case.
If you are a small or microbusiness and looking to get to grips with your finances then becoming an IOEE Member can help you on your way to reduce time trying to understand all those numbers with our e-Learning finances and the ability to search for a Mentor directly. Find out more here.
Article originally published on smallbusiness.co.uk