Small businesses welcome some Budget decisions

News Article - 14 March 2008
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Small businesses in Britain have cautiously welcomed concessions made in the 2008 Budget by the chancellor.

Alistair Darling announced a series of measures designed to promote entrepreneurship and help smaller firms in his Budget speech this week.

Commenting on the Budget, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) stated that it was pleased that there had been very few "nasty surprises" in the speech.

The FSB has also welcomed a decision to defer changes to the rules on income shifting, plans to expand the small firms loans scheme, provide improved access to public sector contracts for small businesses and offer greater support to female entrepreneurs.

John Wright, FSB national chairman, said: "Alistair Darling's first Budget is unlikely to make that situation much better, but it is a relief that it will not make it any worse."

However, the government has been accused of "undermining" small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over the past year, with a series of legislative changes and additional red tape.

Small business struggling to manage their finances could benefit substantially from investment in SME accounting software to make balancing the books easier.

Article keywords: The five-year compulsory rotation of audit engagement partners is seriously threatening audit quality, one organisation is claiming.<br/><br/>In response to the Financial Reporting Council's (FRC) discussion paper entitled Promoting Audit Quality, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland has called for the extension of the period of rotation past the five-year point.<br/><br/>James Barbour, ICAS director of <a href="http://www.access-accounts.com/" target="_self">accounting</a> and auditing, said: &quot;Concerns have been expressed in recent months that the existing rotation requirements in the UK may inadvertently have a negative impact on audit quality - particularly in specialised sectors - because key audit partners are removed without always having someone of sufficient experience of the industry to replace them.&quot;<br/><br/>He added that in order to effectively undertake an audit, the inspector would need adequate knowledge of a business.<br/><br/>The institute also warned that requirements currently placed upon auditors meant that too much emphasis was being directed towards box ticking and compliance procedures.<br/><br/>Following the issuing of the discussion paper for comment, the FRC is now planning to hold meetings in which it will consult on various proposals.<br/>

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