Startup Revolution

James Hurley of The Telegraph published the following two articles in the last few days relating to bank lending and credit agencies:

tgr.ph/nRHHfr and tgr.ph/nvlntn

As usual, the picture painted is not a rosy one, so how can we as business owners turn this to our advantage?

The banks and credit agencies need up to date financial information to take informed decisions on their lending/limit setting. Yet, for some reason the vast majority of SMEs in this country do not produce up to date management accounts.

Is it time to change the way in which SMEs think and operate and actually produce meaningful management accounts?

Imagine what you could do with this information!

1 Take informed decisions on the direction of your business
2 React swiftly to any changes in your market place ahead of competitors
3 Identify and react to issues affecting your business (positive & negative)
4 Send them to your bank manager and credit referencing agencies to improve facilities
5 Question an underwriter on their decisions if a response is not favourable

If we are going to address why the banks aren't lending, we need to take the argument to their door - lack of financial transparency and management information is often a reason for applications being declined. We can address that!

Once you have submitted detailed management accounts to justify your request and the answer comes back negative, question why so you can make changes to your business in order that your next application is successful.