Anaemic Recovery But No Chance Of Double Dip Recession
Posted: 02/04/2010 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Small Business | Tags: Bankruptcy, business concerns, double dip recession, recession, recovery, Tax, uk companies 1 Comment »After the week’s earlier blog on the number of businesses that were in dire fear of a double dip recession I decided to have a look around to see what other expert opinion I could find on the subject. I soon found an article in the Daily Mail that seems to set things out quite clearly.
According to them the well respected lobby group has quite strong opinions on the chances of this double dip recession thing that everyone seems to be talking about, and they consist of pretty much ruling it out while still not making great predictions about a speedy recovery.
Director general Richard Lambert said:
‘The economic outlook is improving, but the clear lack of a driver for growth will make for a bumpy ride in the months ahead.’
There are many other experts who agree with this type of view.The Item Club’s Peter Spencer has this to say
‘If the Chancellor is realistically going to get the public finances back on track a credible, detailed and more aggressive plan must be put in place…He must spell out how cuts are going to be made
All of this a little gloomy if not downright pessimistic but at least to spares us anymore talk of a double dip recession. Something that I, for one am very grateful for.
If you are running a small business or UK company then we, here at St Matthew’s eAccounting, can help you to make decisions that will maximise your profit.
Firms worried About ‘Double Dip’ Bankruptcy
Posted: 31/03/2010 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Small Business | Tags: Bankruptcy, business concerns, insolvency, recession, recovery, Small Business, uk companies, uk investments Leave a comment »The news I have come across lately in my travels around the internet have allowed me to be very optimistic and upbeat about Britain and its economic future and on the whole I do stand by that but I am always pulled up short by articles like the one I read this morning. It outlined the genuine worries of small business that a double dip recession would result in their bankruptcy as they are barely scraping themselves off the floor after the last one.
There is no clear evidence that a double dip recession is going ti happen or even, really, that it is likely, but the fact that it is a mere possibility has some small business owners gripped with fear of insolvency looming. A new survey by a leading insolvency body shows that nearly a third of small business consider this to a legitimate worry. many say such things as the struggle to stay afloat during the last dip has nearly exhausted them and a second dose would finish the job.
It is awful to see legitimate , hard working business people put in the position of bankruptcy by an economy failure. We are all desperately hoping that their fears are for nothing and we never see this ‘double dip’ recession.
If you are facing bankruptcy or even personal insolvency and could do with a plan and a sympathetic ear then get in touch with us here at St Matthew’s eAccounting. We are the experts in this area and can make sure everything runs smoothly for you.
What Are the Chances Of A Double Dip Recession?
Posted: 10/03/2010 Filed under: Bankruptcy, UK Fast Track Bankruptcy | Tags: Bankruptcy, business, business concerns, economy, insolvency Leave a comment »After the very positive log yesterday I decided to have a look at a few of the reports I had seen floating around that seem to be predicting what the are terming a double dip recession. Up until now I had avoided them because i can help thinking that few of the papers will be sad to see the recession with all its newsworthiness left behind. But I may be being slightly uncharitable. As I work quite a lot dealing with insolvency and bankruptcy I decided I should check out exactly what they mean by this double dip though I believe it is nothing terribly positive.
One report in the telegraph centered mainly on London based companies and the gist of it is that the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has released a report that indicates that found that 47pc predicted a second economic dip. They were a bit vague on who they they was though which is always a concern.
On the bright side 51pc of the 184 respondents stated that they think the government can fix the deficit without ruining the economy. The LCCI seems to think this is a strong call from the business sector for spending cuts
“Businesses in the capital are bracing themselves for a return to recession or at the very best weak economic growth. The government needs to take heed and deal with the UK’s public debt to restore confidence in UK markets and keep businesses free from the burden of higher taxes and onerous regulation,” said Colin Stanbridge, chief executive of the LCCI.
Overall though, despite all the caution flying around and the deficit being the word on everyone’s lips, I stand by what I said yesterday, given how bad this recession was meant to be things are not looking too gloomy.
If you have been caught out by the hard economic times and are contemplating bankruptcy or insolvency don’t do anything until you have talked to us here at St Matthew’s eAccounting we can give you advice that is tailored to your situation.
One In Every 114 Businesses Bankrupt
Posted: 04/03/2010 Filed under: Bankruptcy, UK Fast Track Bankruptcy | Tags: Bankruptcy, insolvency, uk companies Leave a comment »While perusing the internet for information related to my area, I like to keep up to date, I came across the startling figure that in 2009 one business in 114 declared bankruptcy. Such a sad number. I deal with bankruptcy a lot in my professional capacity and I hate seeing how hard working business men can fail through no fault of their own. That it was this many in 2009 makes that year a particularly sad one as far as I am concerned.
The number was up from 2008, not surprisingly given the state of things. In 2008 the figure as one in every 150, quite a significant difference if you think about it.
To add to the depressing news the same article informed me that in 2009 , 134,142 individuals were declared insolvent, up from 106,544 in 2008. That means that in Britain last year one in every 320 people went bust.
New debt relief orders seem to have been very popular. Steve Rees, managing director, Vincent Bond and Co, says: “There‟s a growing trend towards debt relief orders (DRO‟s). Introduced into the market in April 2009, and after only 6 months, they made up over 10% of all personal insolvency procedures.”
“Expect to see growing numbers of personal insolvencies over the next 12 months, particularly Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) growth as the industry welcomes new IVA protocol.”
Here at St Matthews eAccounting we know how sensitive the issue of insolvency and bankruptcy can be. If you need to talk it over get in contact and we will tell you how we can help.
Personal Insolvency the Answer For Businesses
Posted: 28/02/2010 Filed under: Bankruptcy, UK Fast Track Bankruptcy | Tags: Bankruptcy, insolvency, uk companies, uk investments Leave a comment »It seems that personal insolvency is becoming more and more popular among business owners that want to get rid of debts but keep their companies afloat. A recent report in the Telegraph has indicated that many business owners have been putting their company expenses on their personal credit cards and then taking the rap with a personal insolvency solution in order to keep their company’s afloat.
Many economists feel that the leap in personal insolvencies that this has created has masked the number of businesses that have got themselves into financial difficulty during the worst part of the recession. In the third quarter of last year company liquidations were down 13pc while personal insolvencies jumped 28pc. This does seem to indicate that personal insolvency was being used as an alternative to declaring bankruptcy.
I certainly have a lot of sympathy for those people who have resorted to desperate measures in desperate times to save their livelihood and in many cases the the livelihood of their employees.
In my opinion the banks can take some of the blame for the fact that small business owners have been forced to resort to credit cards. There has been very few loan products with favourable terms around lately. If there had been then I am sure that many owners would have taken this more sensible route.
It can be easy to get yourself confused about the best solution for you when times start to get very tough. If you are having trouble working out how best to keep your company afloat or indeed if you have accepted that it is time to call it quits with bankruptcy then here at St Matthews eAccounting we can help you to do it right.
More British Businesses In Critical State,
Posted: 10/02/2010 Filed under: Bankruptcy | Tags: Bankruptcy, insolvency Leave a comment »After a slew of really quite positive stories I thought it important to cover one that does not make things out to be quite so cheery.
A recent report in the Guardian newspaper has highlighted the plight of many small to medium firms in the UK who are in severe financial difficulty. More than 140,000 UK companies were dragged into financial difficulties in the last quarter according to the paper.
The paper is of the opinion that more than ever before firms are finding it hard to struggle on once they hit trouble. They quote insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor as saying “A new trend is emerging, which indicates that a higher number of business failures are occurring at an earlier stage of deterioration than in previous recessions,”
The experts also believe that the fact the government has put so many measures in place to try and help business may have had some positive effects in the short term but predicts that when the help is withdrawn firms will hit the wall in unprecedented numbers.
“While business finance is expected to become more readily available during the first half of 2010, we anticipate a rise in the levels of financial distress during the second half of 2010, as temporary financial support measures are unwound.”
Begbies Traynor believes some firms are only deferring troubles and will have to pay the piper in the end. It is true to say that a lot of business people will do almost anything to keep their business afloat in the short term hoping that they will be saved from the inevitable by some sort of economic miracle.
On a brighter note, as I just cannot help being an optimist, the number of firms facing critical problems is 14% less than it was this time last year. Who knows perhaps the predictions of this group will not be so starkly realised as they think. Either way we have no choice but to cross this bridge when we come to it.
Personal Bankruptcy In the Recession
Posted: 25/01/2010 Filed under: Bankruptcy | Tags: Bankruptcy, insolvency, IVA 1 Comment »According to Tory leader David Cameron, many more people have hit the skids in this recession than in any other that this country has endured. How true is what he is saying and what role do laws governing bankruptcy in this country have to play in this?
There now seems to be no doubt that Britain is in the longest recession since the war. There are many who claim that it is getting worse. During the boom before the credit crunch many people and businesses had gone on an unprecedented borrowing rampage. The result is that many more people than ever before have gone bust.
These figures are slightly skewed though by changes to the way people go ‘bust’ these days. In the past you really only had one option and that was to declare bankruptcy. This was a fairly harsh way of dealing with insolvency with assets such as cars and homes being seized to pay off debits. These days people have other, less onerous, options and the result seems to be a higher uptake rate.
IVA or individual voluntary arrangements are a type of bankrupt lite. They allow people, in most cases, to keep things like their houses. In the current recession IVAs made up more than a third of the total number of insolvencies. There have been 64,733 IVAs over the 18 months from March 2008.
There seems to be little doubt that this figure reflects a high number of people reaching personal insolvency. However, the fact that they now have an option that does not ‘ruin’ their lives and brand them forever, undoubtedly allows more people to come forward.
On balance it seems that Cameron’s claims may be a little simplistic. It is not just that many people are getting into trouble that accounts for the high rate of insolvency, the fact that help is at hand has people more willing to try and sort their financial woes out.
