SMEs were most likely to turn to accountants (37%) for information and advice on their finances, particularly those operating in the transport and storage sector.

This was frequently mentioned in relation to receiving advice on tax and national insurance law and payments, which was more likely to be sought by medium-sized businesses (12%) than by small businesses (7%), found the latest survey of SMEs by the Department for Business.

Concerning managing records related to income tax self-assessment, more than half of SMEs (56%) reported using record-keeping software, followed by paper-based records (54%) and spreadsheets (32%).