#MakeBusinessSimple is a report that recognises the crucial role micro-businesses play in our economy. The findings from this report reveal that micro-businesses are spending huge amounts of time on financial admin.

Whether it’s chasing invoices, processing expenses or navigating the tax system, micro-businesses devote ten weeks of the year to sorting out their finances.

The report explores this issue in depth and also offers practical solutions to it. It’s time for businesses to focus on what matters: their business.

The stats

The ultimate five point plan to reduce financial admin.

Do your own financial admin audit

Identify where your time is being used – calculate how long each financial admin task is taking and compare this to the average for a company of your size using our interactive quiz below.

Don’t let the work mount up

Do a little work, often, and take the Marie Kondo ‘once clean, never messy again’ approach. You’ll find the process smoother and more efficient as a result.

Make technology your friend

Conquer your fear of admin software and use it more often- it can make a huge difference with efficiency. The Starling Business Account was designed with this in mind and offers customers a Marketplace where they can access 11 different financial service tools.

Use cloud-based accounting software

Cloud-based accounting software is an ideal solution if you want to save on the cost of hiring a professional accountant, and the fact that this software can be linked to your bank account makes life much easier.

Open a dedicated business account

For a sole trader, there is no legal requirement to open a business account but doing so will save you some serious headaches along the way and make it easier to keep your finances in order. Consider factors such as transaction fees, withdrawal fees, introductory offers, admin features and the level of customer support that’s available when choosing your business account.

To be clear, admin is a critical part of any healthy business, but it needs to support and not slow down growth... Having worked in banking and interacted with businesses for decades, I know how crucial it is to streamline these financial tasks, using the best technology at my disposal to minimise the time spent on them, so that I can focus purely on growth. At Starling, we want to help as many businesses as possible through this process, showing them that finance work doesn’t have to be so complicated.”

Anne Boden
Founder of Starling Bank

Find out how your financial admin habits compare to other businesses. Do the quiz below

Download the full report

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