Accountants Who's Who - Business Plus Online

BP SURVEY
ACCOUNTANTS
of this is that we are beginning to see an
emerging burst of innovation in SME
finance, with a wider choice available for
raising equity and debt finance.
Gerry McInerney
McInerney Saunders
Businesses that have weathered the storm
of the last few years have learned to live
within their credit limits and are focused
on accumulating cash reserves rather than
increasing their borrowings. For those that
are expanding from a profitable base, I see
no more difficulty for them in funding
growth now compared to a year ago.
Invoice discounting coupled with assetbacked
finance will increasingly be the
norm. Banks want to lend but within the
institutions the tolerance for getting a
decision wrong is very low. Consequently
the lending process will ensure that only
the really good cases get through and
others will be frustrated.
Many of our clients have accepted the
new state of the market and have adapted
Gerry McInerney, McInerney Saunders
to it. They recognise that volumes are
down but so too are costs, and their
objectives are to maximise profitability,
pay down debt and build sustainable
businesses.
I think there is reluctance on the part
of the SME business owner to seriously
engage with business planning in a
systematic fashion. Business owners who
face up to this challenge generally find
the assistance of a commercially focused
business adviser or coach to be of
enormous benefit. Having independent
advisers participating at regular formal
meetings of the board of directors and
senior management can have a very
powerful and positive influence on
outcomes.
Paul Leonard
Cooney Carey
The banks are looking to lend and we are
aware of the investment in people they
have made in this regard. While cashflow
lending is their focus, the banks rarely
lend on this alone. They want security
and unfortunately there is still a demand
for personal guarantees. People have seen
the difficulties that personal guarantees
have caused in the past and are less willing
to borrow if they are demanded.
There has also been a tightening of insurance
products available to the banks and
this has restricted the availability of invoice
discounting and trade finance-type
facilities.
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