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Small and micro business: news, insights and industry press

Interviews, reflections and commentary on key issues affecting small and micro businesses. ICAEW members and ACA students can also access industry press articles as a benefit of ICAEW membership.
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News and insights

Interviews, reflections and commentary on key issues affecting small and micro businesses.
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Trade Strategy Review: six principles for success
  • Article
  • 18 Feb 2025
ICAEW has taken the opportunity to comment on the Trade Strategy Review, received from the Department for Business and Trade on 22 November.
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How to build the case for sustainability service lines
  • Article
  • 17 Feb 2025
This second unit in ICAEW’s new, free e-learning programme focuses on building the business case for sustainability, including for practices considering new ESG service lines.
New tax return requirements for sole traders and directors
  • Article
  • 13 Feb 2025
Taxpayers may need to provide more information in their 2025/26 self assessment tax returns as some voluntary requirements have been made mandatory and new mandatory requirements have also been introduced.
Group of people around a table having a meeting
Budget drives dramatic drop in business confidence
  • Article
  • 15 Jan 2025
Confidence across all UK business sectors has plunged, according to ICAEW analysis, as concerns over last year’s Budget tax measures weigh heavily on the economy.
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Willow Review aims to boost SMEs’ sustainability know-how
  • Article
  • 14 Jan 2025
Following the recent launch of an independent review to help small businesses get to grips with sustainability, Co-Chair Michelle Ovens CBE outlines the project’s drive and focus.
Laura Beales ACA, co-founder and CEO of Tally Workspace
The SME view: ‘VAT is complicated, even for accountants’
  • Article
  • 09 Jan 2025
The co-founder of a fast-growing business – and ICAEW member – outlines why VAT could be made much easier for the nation’s entrepreneurs.
Tanuvi Ethunandan ACA founded Data Duopoly
The SME view: ‘VAT needs to be an asset to the UK economy’
  • Article
  • 08 Jan 2025
The founder of a tech company and ICAEW member explains how VAT reform could make a difference for growing businesses in this country.
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UK company size thresholds to increase
  • Article
  • 12 Dec 2024
New regulations increasing company size thresholds and removing certain requirements from the Directors’ Report will be effective from April 2025.
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Industry press

The ICAEW Library provides access to leading business, finance and management journals. These journals are available to logged-in ICAEW members, ACA students and other entitled users subject to suppliers' terms of use.
Exclusive Maintaining a startup culture while scaling
  • Article
  • 01 Jan 2025
  • Tarang Amin
Tarang Amin, CEO of e.l.f. Beauty, discusses how the company has continued to operate like a start-up, even as it has become a major player in the beauty industry.
Exclusive The biggest mistakes that startups make
  • Article
  • 01 Jan 2025
  • Nir Zicherman
Nir Zicherman, CEO of Oboe, sets out 50 hard-won lessons that start-ups ought to take heed of in order to avoid common pitfalls.
Exclusive Who learns fastest, wins: Lean Startup and Discovery Driven Growth
  • Article
  • 01 Nov 2024
  • Rita Gunther McGrath
Most entrepreneurial ventures and startups fail. Against this backdrop, Lean Startup and Discovery-Driven Growth (DDG) are methods that emphasize rapid learning, resource parsimony, and focus on validating assumptions as ways of reducing the cost and risk of failure. Rita Gunther McGrath looks at the benefits of both methods, suggesting that they are a major advance over traditional planning processes because they both emphasize rapid learning. She also provides a 'flops file' of massive corporate failures and analyses the mistakes made.
Exclusive The role of small- and medium-sized practices in the sustainable transition of SMEs
  • Article
  • 01 Aug 2024
  • Esther Ortiz, Salvador Marín, Paul Thompson
This paper outlines recent European legislation and standards relating to sustainability reporting, and examines the emerging role of small- and medium-sized accountancy practices in helping SMEs to comply with the regulatory regime in this area.
Exclusive Digital transformation: strategies for small and midsize accounting firms
  • Article
  • 29 Jul 2024
  • Brian Trout, Cory Ng
The article focuses on the challenges and opportunities faced by small to medium-sized accounting firms amidst digital transformation. Topics include evolving client expectations for remote access and intuitive digital platforms, strategies for integrating accounting systems with other business tools, and the critical importance of strong data security measures to maintain client trust.
Exclusive Transfer pricing considerations for start-ups in Egypt
  • Article
  • 20 May 2024
  • Nouran Ibrahim and Maureen Guirguis
With transfer pricing principles becoming increasingly important as start-ups expand, Nouran Ibrahim and Maureen Guirguis of Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz – Grant Thornton Egypt explain the salient points and how to meet the challenges.
Exclusive Generative AI for small and midsized firms
  • Article
  • 01 May 2024
  • Bill Armstrong
Article discusses how small and midsized accounting firms are beginning to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) technology to streamline their processes. It outlines the three approaches to adopting generative AI: out-of-the-box, custom development, and assembling. Each approach has its own advantages and considerations, such as data security and cost.
Exclusive Running out of oxygen
  • Article
  • 01 Feb 2024
  • Jessica Mathews
Discusses the challenges faced by venture capital-funded start-ups, particularly unicorns, due to current market upheaval. A number of factors have made it more difficult for start-ups to sustain growth, and the lack of funding and dried-up acquisition market have also played a role in the failure of some of these. Sectors such as AI and mission-critical technologies continue to attract funding however.
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Useful links

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Latest Business news from Insights
  • Hub page
Read the latest business articles published in ICAEW's Insights hub.
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Ukraine hub
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Visit our Ukraine hub for the latest on sanctions, ethical guidance and reputational risk.
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Brexit – impact on ICAEW members
  • Hub page
Find a range of resources to help you navigate this new chapter.

Business Spotlight

Read these Business Spotlight articles for Chartered Accountants' reports from the front line of industry, across regions and sectors.
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