ICAEW’s poll of accountants found that 74% feel their bank understands their business and the majority say that they are able to renew their loan or overdraft facilities.

However, 40% of micro/small firms want a closer relationship with their bank and 41% have little confidence in high street banks compared with 24% of businesses overall. Despite this, 82% of businesses said they would not go to peer-to-peer lending, which ICAEW said might be due to improved confidence in mainstream funding options or a lack of confidence in alternative finance providers.

The latest quarterly SME Finance Monitor from BDRC Continental, a commercial finance provider, suggests this situation may be starting to change, with the research showing declining use of, and appetite for, ‘traditional’ core lending products like loans and overdrafts.

Under a third (30%) of SMEs were using such finance in Q2 2014 compared to 36% in the same quarter of 2012, while at its peak, four in 10 SMEs were using these products. Those planning to apply for finance are also less likely to be considering applying for one of these core products (63% of potential applicants in Q2 2014 compared to 72% in Q2 2012).

Shiona Davies, director at BDRC Continental, said: ‘Larger SMEs with 50-249 employees appear to be moving away from external finance, and are using leasing more widely than loans or overdrafts.

'This may be the start of a sea change in the way SMEs raise external finance. However, although there has been speculation that newer forms of finance such as crowdfunding are becoming more popular, at present actual usage by SMEs is very low at 1%.’

The data shows that in the first half of 2014, 22% of SMEs were aware of crowdfunding, but two thirds said they were unlikely to consider using this form of finance. BDRC Continental said this may be because most loan/overdraft renewals were successful (96% of those applied for in the 18 months to Q2 2014).

However, applications for new money were less likely to be successful (46% of those applied for in the 18 months to Q2 2014), and this proportion is declining over time, moving from above to below a 50% success rate, which suggests alternative options will become more attractive.

Commenting on new figures from the Bank of England which show that net lending to small and medium sized businesses fell by £435m in the second quarter of 2014, Iain Moffatt, UK head of regions for KPMG, said: ‘It’s clearly disappointing that lending to SMEs has continued to contract in Q2, particularly as these figures coincide with a separate report out today which suggests that success rates on applications for loans from small businesses are at a three-year low.

'Whilst we are in a lot of cases seeing smaller companies able to finance their growth plans via cash that they have retained within their business over the last couple of years, one wonders how long this can be sustained. Increased bank lending will likely have an important part to play if we are to ensure the economy continues on its path of steady growth.’

The Community Development Finance Association (CDFA) has just launched a new website, www.findingfinance.org.uk, which it says is designed to provide a quick and easy way for small or social businesses rejected by banks to find a fair and affordable loan. It lists local lenders, known as Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs), which are run as social enterprises.