99.9 problems but an accountant is not one.

So what are the everyday business problems facing small and medium-sized business owners?

If business owners were to rank them, what would they be?
ICAEW report ‘The 99.9%: Small and medium sized businesses, who are they and what do they need?' explores the relationship between small businesses and accountants. The report title refers to the proportion of private enterprises in the UK considered to be small or medium-sized and includes numerous stats on the accountancy services used by businesses owners.

The report shows that small businesses were positive about the accountancy profession for example, 72% agreed that a good relationship with an accountant adds value to their company.

So I wondered about the pressing problems small business owners encounter. We know about the issues many report when trying to raise external funding, but what other problems keep entrepreneurs awake at night?

I should say that my interest in all of this is that along with colleague Ruth Ward (ICAEW) we will be undertaking a series of depth interviews with businesses owners to ask in more detail about their business support needs. I just wanted a heads up on their likely responses.