Help for small businesses launched
Small businesses across the Sheffield City Region are being offered free expert advice from ICAEW Chartered Accountants. The Business Advice Service (BAS) is a national initiative which aims to help small companies and start-ups with business and financial advice to help economic growth.
Small and medium business (SMEs) owners can contact firms in their area on a variety of issues, both large and small, and there is no future obligation. More than 2,000 ICAEW practices nationally, and around 70 in South Yorkshire, have already signed up to offer the initial free consultation under the scheme.
Mark Protherough, ICAEW’s Executive Director, Learning & Professional Development, attended the launch in Sheffield and said: “Start-ups or growing small businesses can always benefit from professional support, but in the current harsh economic climate good advice is even more vital to help SMEs become the engines of growth so desperately needed.
“The Business Advice Service will offer SMEs the opportunity to discuss their business with a qualified chartered accountant through a free initial consultation. ICAEW Chartered Accountants will be able to offer expert advice on a whole range of issues – from starting a business to turnaround, restructuring, financial management or taxation issues.”
James Newman, himself a chartered accountant and chairman of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership and Finance Yorkshire, said: “We would encourage SMEs to take up this opportunity, as we know from our current and past experience that applications which have a business adviser involved are much stronger and have an almost 300% increase in their rate of success.”
He added that he was very pleased to see ICAEW and its members grasping the opportunity to help SMEs and to put something back into the economy.
Finance Yorkshire, Chief Executive Alex McWhirter said: “Finance Yorkshire applauds the referral mechanism in place in ICAEW’s Business Advice Service and the beauty of it is that it can work both ways with Finance Yorkshire referring businesses to the website and businesses been referred to Finance Yorkshire if they have funding requirements. We look forward to a strong working relationship with ICAEW.”
BAS is supported by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and small businesses can find details of ICAEW chartered accountants in their local area at www.businessadviceservice.com.
Alternatively please contact: ICAEW Regional Office Yorkshire & Humber on 0113 322 0871 or email yorks-humberside@icaew.com Finance Yorkshire can be contacted on 0845 649 0000, email info@finance-yorkshire.com
Note: this news article is from Finance Yorkshire’s previous fund. Read more about Finance Yorkshire