George Osborne addresses Doing Business Together project, bringing banks and businesses together
  2 March 2011    
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The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has addressed a grassroots meeting of the Doing Business Together (DBT) project, which aims to improve the provision of commercial finance by bringing banks and businesses together in the spirit of dialogue, transparency and information sharing.
 
Speaking on Friday, 25 February, Mr Osborne said:
 
"I commend you for what you have done with the Doing Business Together initiative.
 
"It is essential that we do all we can to ensure that finance is available for small businesses, enabling them to try to grow.
 
"I hope you in the small business community are seeing that the banks are starting to lend more.
 
"My priority is to get the banks lending and I congratulate projects like this."
 
Approximately 250 small business owners, bank representatives, credit rating agencies, trade credit insurers and brokers were given the opportunity to question the Chancellor directly.
 
They were joined at the event, which took place in Mr Osborne's Tatton constituency, by employer associations, local government officials and trade bodies, including the not-for-profit Forum of Private Business, which hosted the event.
 
Information about financial services, including those provided as alternatives to traditional high street lenders, as well as the main banks, was available to help business owners and their accountants maximise the funding options available to them.
 
One of these is Forum CreditPal, a new free online platform using secure web technology to allow Forum members to upload their financial information, automatically prepare profit and loss balance sheets to present to lenders, and display two-year portable credit histories in the format that lenders require. The information can then be sent directly to selected banks, trade credit insurers and suppliers of your choice.
 
The service, which was launched at the event, is provided as part of the Forum's Finance Director business support solution.
 
Forum CreditPal was developed to address one of the banks' biggest bugbears when assessing small business lending applications - the lack of clear, standardised financial information.
 
At the event, delegates were able to take part in a survey to find out attitudes to preparing regular, standardised statements of accounts in order to secure cost-effective finance. The results will be published in the coming weeks.
 
They also received information about the Forum's new Get Britain Trading campaign, a major element of which addresses barriers to small businesses accessing finance.
 
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the huge contribution small firms make to the economy. It's four ‘pillars' are easier access to finance and improved cash flow, simplified and proportionate tax, simplified employment law and employment taxation, plus access to better skills provision, and more opportunities for growth.
 
The Forum is a founding member of DBT and was instrumental in developing its operating principles. They are based on the belief thatsmall business systems of financial reporting are more likely to produce relevant and reliable financial information if:
  • Management communicates sound ethical values within the business and exercises sufficient oversight of activities
  • Sufficient competent human and other resources are used
  • The systems are designed to achieve the business's specific financial reporting objectives
  • Risks of not meeting objectives are identified and mitigated by suitable policies and procedures
  • The performance of systems is monitored and corrected or improved as necessary.
Information from providers of finance about process and decision making is appropriate if it:
  • Explains what finance may be sought and on what terms
  • Identifies factors that determine credit ratings or lending decisions
  • Sets out the general processes and timetable
  • Refers to appropriate regulations/industry codes where these are followed
  • Communicates, in respect of an application or facility, the specific processes and timetable applied and the reasons for decisions. 
The Forum's Chief Executive, Phil Orford, spoke to delegates about the importance of the event.
 
He said: "The question is: how do we establish a period of stability and certainty, clearly, post-budget?
 
"Banks are telling us that demand is down, they are saying that costs are neutral, that they want to lend to businesses and are committed to meeting these lending targets. So the message to small businesses is go and test them."
 
The grassroots Doing Business Together event was held on Friday, 25 February 2011 at Mere Golf and Country Club in Knutsford, the Cheshire town where the Forum has been based since it was formed in 1977.
 
It followed the project's inaugural meeting in Richmond, Surrey, which was attended by the Government's Business Secretary Vince Cable.


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