// INDUSTRY INSIGHT //

The UK government has pledged to strip back outdated bureaucracy and put digital-first processes at the heart of business reporting, with reforms expected to save firms more than £ 450 million a year. But while the government can cut external red tape, how much time are small businesses losing to bureaucracy of their own? Eriona Bajrakurtaj, CEO, Majors Accounts, discusses why the government’ s reforms should be a catalyst for SMBs to take the same digital-first approach to their own operations.

he UK government recently

For small- and medium-sized businesses in particular, that could mean fewer hours spent dealing with paperwork and more capacity to focus on running and growing the business.

But as an accountant working with SMBs, I see another side. Not all of the administrative burden businesses face comes from regulation. Some of it builds up within the business itself.

As companies grow, so do the invoices, expenses, payments and financial decisions that need to be managed. Processes that worked when a business was smaller can become time-consuming as transaction volumes increase, responsibilities spread across a team and information ends up sitting in different places. In effect, processes that once helped a business operate can gradually become a form of internal red tape.

As the government looks at where requirements on businesses can be simplified, SMB leaders have an opportunity to ask the same question of their own operations: what are we still doing manually because we need to, and what are we doing simply because that is how we have always done it?

When processes do not grow with the business

Running an SMB has always required owners to wear several hats. But there comes a point when being closely involved in every operational detail leaves less time to think about where the business is going next.

Intuit QuickBooks’ Growth Gap research illustrates the scale of that challenge. Around 40 % of UK SMB leaders are heavily involved in daily operations, while leaders lose approximately 4.7 hours each week to decision overload.

Working with SMBs, I have seen how quickly the financial processes that serve a business well in its early stages can become a source of friction as it grows. An owner might initially have a close handle on every invoice, expense and payment. But as customers, employees and suppliers multiply, maintaining that same level of oversight becomes much more difficult.

The problem is not simply that there is more administration to deal with. It is that greater complexity can make it harder for owners to

AS COMPANIES GROW, SO DO THE INVOICES, EXPENSES, PAYMENTS AND FINANCIAL DECISIONS THAT NEED TO BE MANAGED.

Intelligent SME. tech

35