At the time of writing this article, there is much talk of global trade tariffs. For many UK import/export businesses, this is a worrying time. These worldwide influences are unlikely to disappear soon and must be of significant concern for many business leaders. Combine this with changes which came into effect from April 6th 2025, increasing the cost of employing staff and further changes announced for April 6th 2026, which reduce Business Property Relief to £1m, the plans many have for creating growth as well as passing on wealth to future generations are being significantly impacte

There will be plenty of business owners out there who feel they have a lot of weight on their shoulders, and in reality, there is nothing they alone can do to overcome these issues.

They can, however, talk about them, and having good advisors can really help to share the burden. The old saying that a problem shared is a problem halved has never rung so true.

Much of my time is spent talking to clients about the issues affecting their business, and many have said they really value the opportunity to talk to someone with an outside perspective. Often, framing an issue in a different way helps those close to the business see other potential routes to overcoming challenges. It tends not to be these huge global and domestic, headline-grabbing issues which are the most troubling once the conversation gets going.

In our advisory role, we help business owners tackle the real day-to-day issues in their business which they do have control over. Often, when a business goes through a rapid growth phase, the business owner can feel out of control, and being able to voice their thoughts and concerns can really help them focus on the key issues.

I recently advised a rapidly growing client who was trying to establish whether fraud was taking place within their business and what extra system controls could be put in place to prevent it.

We undertook a review of internal controls and found there were some obvious areas where duties relating to finances should be segregated. We recommended new controls around access to bank accounts, sales and purchases, stock control and wages, and following our advice, these were implemented. We also looked at issues around the management of stock and simple measures such as having doors locked to warehousing and storage areas, which can prevent opportunistic and planned theft.

Six months on, this tightening up of controls had given the business owner much greater confidence and made a big difference in lifting these concerns from them.

For another client, we recently carried out a systems review as this successful business had grown quickly and was generating significant material ‘waste’ that they didn’t know what to do with. We looked at what processes were generating the waste and went through it with them and identified areas where some of it could be re-used back into the production line, and the rest of it sold, reducing waste costs and providing a useful new revenue stream. It wasn’t really a waste, but they just needed better systems and processes in place to establish if it had value to the businessA systems review is also useful before meeting audit thresholds to help prepare the business for this legal requirement or to help prepare the business for sale. As part of this review process, we provide a summary of their systems, which can be used as the basis of a handbook about the business as well as recommendations for improvements. Both the business owners and their team find it a very useful document, as it is easy to lose control as the business grows quickly. As it is written from the outside, it gives a different perspective to the business, and one that is often missing from the internal team.

The review document is a starting point for business owners to delegate more in the future if everything follows a system and has a procedure in place. No business owner wants to be so tied to the day-to-day minutia of the business that they can’t free their time and their minds to focus on some of the bigger issues and seek out new opportunities for the business.

Going back to where we started, if you were able to regain control of your business and then had more time and the headspace to start thinking about the bigger picture and the future, then you would probably feel less troubled by some of the global events happening. You would be in full control of what you can influence and change, which can have an immediate and profound impact on the success and profitability of your business.