On 5th May, The Corporate Finance Network researched its accountancy members to ascertain their latest experiences of attempting to secure a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBILS) for their SME clients. Despite the much-heralded launch and apparent success of its younger sibling, the Bounce Back Loan on 4th May, CBILS still plays an important role in the rescue and recovery of more sizeable SMEs,
Kirsty McGregor, Chairman of the national accountancy group, The Corporate Finance Network, has identified that some businesses are missing out on extra grant support because their area hasn’t launched a top-up grant scheme, whereas other areas have provided that for their local businesses.
She explains: “As part of our work across the country,
Accountants representing over 20,500 SME clients in the UK have reported more businesses have decided to dissolve or liquidate in last week, despite a bounce in confidence about the long-term situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The results are revealed in the latest ACCA UK and The Corporate Finance Network’s (CFN) SME Health Tracker,
The Corporate Finance Network is proud to have launched an initiative to raise awareness of the incredible pressure which independent accountancy firms are suffering on behalf of their SME business clients and to support the whole nation. This has been no more apparent than this week, when, as a result of the HMRC application process for the Job Retention Scheme for employers claiming a furlough grant for <100 employees,
Access to cash in the short and medium-term is still an uncertainty for many businesses as they struggle with trading conditions created by the Covid-19 pandemic, reveals the latest results from ACCA UK and The Corporate Finance Network’s (The CFN) weekly poll of accountants working for approximately 11,500 small business clients across the UK.
ACCA UK and The Corporate Finance Network’s (The CFN) weekly tracker of SME health reveals that a third of businesses will probably not be able to access the cash they need to last more than two weeks of lockdown (33%).
“Plaiting Fog” and “Watching paint dry” are also phrases that come to mind. On 18th March, the Chancellor said “We will do whatever it takes” to support businesses and employees through this crisis. Yet, 4 weeks later, businesses are still floundering to access most of the support which has allegedly been offered.
The Corporate Finance Network, representing some of the UK’s most proactive and commercially astute larger, regional accountancy firms, has undertaken further research in respect of 10,000 of their SME clients, which now predicts that in the next 2 weeks, as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown, 20% of these businesses will “probably” or “definitely” run out of cash in the next 2 weeks unless the Government brings other solutions to protect businesses and jobs.
Whilst most of the recent changes to the CBILS are on the whole welcome and will make facilities easier to access for many SMEs, I am still concerned that the Government is encouraging, in fact expecting, SME business owners to load their business with debt.
As much as the commitment from the Treasury to cover the first 12 months interest and fees is appreciated,
Kirsty McGregor, founder of The Corporate Finance Network, representing some of the UK’s most proactive and commercially astute regional, independent accountancy firms, has given her reaction to the changes brought in to amend the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme by the British Business Bank, which are:
1. Changes have been announced to take effect from Monday 6th April but need to be applied retrospectively to any offer made since 23rd March 2020
