It's impossible these days to navigate the newspaper business
pages without the word 'transparency' appearing in what feels like
every other paragraph. Indeed, this tautological mantra seems to
have become a catch-all solution for everything from reining in
executive bonuses to mitigating the risk of corporate fraud.
So it's strange then that as Vince Cable and others beat the
transparency drum, there remains a legislative appetite to exempt
micro-business from filing statutory accounts at Companies House. A
fine idea on the surface you might think, with Government red tape
after all being the perennial bugbear of the British entrepreneur,
but those lauding this approach could do worse than pause for a
moment and reflect on the cliché that 'information is power'.
Why? Because in a market where, whatever their Project Merlin
inspired protestations to the contrary, lenders remain extremely
cautious about lending to small firms, the need for accurate and up
to date information about the financial strength of companies is
greater than ever.
When push comes to shove, being able to give accurate positive
insight into the stability of an ambitious growing company could
make the critical difference between funds being extended to get an
enterprise off the ground, or secure the investment it desires to
break into a new market or fund a new product or service
launch.
This is why credit reference agencies such as Graydon UK are
doing everything they can to protect the integrity of the data held
at Companies House, important as it is to ensuring that the credit
reference assessments they produce and provide to potential
lenders, investors and suppliers give a true representation of
businesses.
It's also why Graydon UK is throwing its weight behind the work
of The Business Information Providers Association (BIPA), an
association of the five principal Commercial Credit Reference
Agencies in the UK, to reduce the risk associated with business
transactions by ensuring rating assessments are based on accurate
analyses of business.
After all, our business is about helping companies feel assured
they can transact with confidence and optimise their credit
decisioning capacity. What's more, we're here to help businesses
showcase their financial strengths and potential for sustainable
growth. So, its natural for us support BIPA and the information
delivered via its new website,
www.bipa.uk.com
