Small Businesses Outside of London More Likely to Survive

A report by eBay showed that small businesses situated outside of the capital are likely to survive for longer.

Only two out of five start-up businesses in London survive for longer than five years, compared to 45% in the South West, 45% in the East and 42% in Scotland.

Tanya Lawler, of eBay UK, said: “Our research shows the vital role start-ups play in the British economy, acting as resilient satellites of stability and employment.”

The best cities for a start up

If you’re thinking of starting a company outside of London, the best place to start would be on the list of top places where businesses succeed.

According to Startups.co.uk, the top three places to start a business are Bristol (check out our accountancy services for Bristol), Oxford and Edinburgh. In the north, Leeds, Manchester (check out our accountancy services for Manchester) and Glasgow were in the top ten, with Newcastle in 11^th place.

You should think about where you want to begin your company as carefully as you would think about where you want to live. Even if you’re a remote or online company, location will be important in terms of employment and accessibility.

What causes small businesses to fail?

While location is an important aspect of a small business’ success, it isn’t the be-all and end-all.

According to a study by Intuit, 44% of small businesses have either run out of money or come very close to it within their first three years.

Not having finances in order, or having little experience with finances is a primary reason why many small businesses fail.

Of those surveyed, 29% spent more time managing finances and administration than they had expected to.

Some of the aspects that small businesses struggle with most include failing to file records correctly, not recording them at all and forgetting important accounting dates. All of these issues can come at a cost; the most expensive being penalties and fines from HMRC.

You can save time by outsourcing work to an accountant, or even just by using a simple cloud accounting software to keep on top of records.

If you want more information on business finances, you can find it on our resource page.

Are you starting up a company? Get some top-notch finance advice from our team by giving us a ring on 020 3355 4047.

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About The Author

Karl Bilby

We work very closely with our expert accountants to bring you the latest factually correct tax and accounting news. We also enjoy writing about small business news that we hope you find useful!