Comment

The high street is firmly back on the business agenda for UK entrepreneurs keen to boost visibility and engagement with customers, influencers and the media. Customers are buying and UK businesses are using every channel at their disposal to service demand while being in the spaces and places of the target shopper.  Because founders come looking for content and support on topics from raising money to hiring staff, Enterprise Nation is able to track sentiment and trends. Right now, the prevailing topic is how to service customer demand.  Customers, both large and small, are actively shopping both online and off line. Consumers are heading out in search of new experiences and products, and big brands – including corporates and government – are buying from small firms offering the niche services they are after.  Entrepreneurial founders are intent on servicing this demand regardless of the rising cost of doing business. There are three ways in which we are seeing this trend materialise:  E-commerce There are many platforms from which small businesses can sell both within the UK and overseas. Amazon has long had a position of strength in enabling spare room start-ups and growth companies to reach customers across the globe. The e-commerce giant is now being joined in a busy market by new platforms, such as Faire.com, which connect retailers to wholesalers, high street brands like John Lewis and Joules, who are starting their own marketplaces stocked with products from small businesses, and emerging sector-specific niche platforms, such as Glassette.com for homewares. All offer small businesses a rapid route to market, with payment solutions such as Klarna enabling a straightforward sales process for the customer.  Pop-up retail In order to meet customers, buyers, influencers and journalists on the High Street, small businesses are testing physical retail locations and bringing their brand into the real world. Property operators, including Sook, SituLive and Space and People, are making physical retail a viable option for the smallest of companies by allowing them to rent space by the hour, and on a budget. In-person events After a two-year hiatus, physical events are making a comeback, with the number of live business gatherings listed on our platform doubling in the past two months. As a result, we’re also seeing the return of the serendipitous meeting during the workday coffee break, or after-work drink, once again opening up new opportunities for the hustling entrepreneur.  Small businesses are powering on all cylinders and are staying updated on the techniques that will help them reach more customers effectively and efficiently. Doing so will deliver revenue, economic growth, and a vibrant business community successfully servicing market demand in entrepreneurial style.   Emma Jones is the Founder of Enterprise Nation, a business support platform and provider that operates in the UK and Ireland.

The unsettling effect of the pandemic on the job market is being felt as much in the US as in Ireland, as employers grapple to attract candidates with the skills they need to stay competitive, writes Dr Brian Keegan. People are harder to manage. It’s a stark realisation, expressed by a very senior Irish Chartered Accountant at a Fortune 500 company.   The pandemic may have been the great leveller across the world, but the process of recovery will not be as homogenised.   Just as in Ireland, the US has been scarred socially and commercially by the misery of COVID-19.  Within some sectors of American industry, huge resources are being devoted to little else besides hiring.   The unsettling effect of the pandemic on workers is prompting, not just career change, but location change. From the employer perspective, the traditional skill sets, which might once have automatically qualified people for well-paid employment, are changing.   Anecdotally at least, from the many members I spoke to during the Institute’s St Patrick’s day delegation to the US, led by our President Paul Henry, the most sought-after skill is project management — with specialisation in finance or data analysis an added bonus.   Educational establishments are already picking up on this shift. One Ivy League university is developing micro-certification, which is an accreditation for completing very short courses in high-demand skill sets like data mining. This isn’t merely reflecting the state of the job market, but changes in corporate strategies. Progressive industries have had a digital strategy as a priority for several years. This is now morphing into a “mobile first” strategy.  The pandemic has fostered recognition that consumer and brand loyalty is not merely built by online capability but by ease of access. This means getting your customer order capture and service delivery platforms onto mobile phones.   There is less sense of urgency over resolving supply chain issues. The prevailing sentiment is that, if the pandemic proved anything from a commercial standpoint, it is that supply chain issues can be worked out no matter how severely they appear to have been disrupted in the first instance.   Efficiencies in purchasing and supply need the clever use of data, and data usage brings risks and challenges all its own. There seems to be a view that systems don’t have to be 100 percent secure, just more secure than those of competitors.   As one US-based member in a national leadership role in IT suggested, every system is breakable. The trick is to ensure that yours isn’t the easiest one to break. Despite the staffing challenges, the common thread running through all these observations is relentless expansion. The ‘animal spirits’ which the great economist JM Keynes credited as the prime mover of economic activity are being boosted by an overwhelming sense of relief that the pandemic may now, in fact, be over.   This sense of relief is dangerous. Tragically, we have jumped out of the frying pan of the pandemic into the fire of war in Europe.   Not to diminish the horrible loss of life, the evil and unjustifiable attack by Russia on Ukraine may well cause even greater economic disruption across Europe than the pandemic.  Grain will be scarcer because Ukraine was the breadbasket of central Europe. The worldwide shortage of microprocessors will be exacerbated because key elements in their manufacture, notably Neon, were major exports from a stable and increasingly prosperous pre-war Ukraine.   The West has correctly chosen to punish Russia for its actions with sanctions, but effective sanctions cut both ways. The commercial priorities we had planned as we recover from the pandemic will have to change to reflect the invasion of Ukraine. The only saving grace is that people, though they may well indeed be harder to manage, are adaptable. Dr Brian Keegan is Director of Advocacy and Voice at Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Despite persistent and difficult challenges, Dawn McLaughlin is bullish on the north-west’s prospects for 2022 and beyond. This time of year is often a natural time to reflect and contemplate what has happened over the past 12 months. 2021, for all its challenges and difficulties, has been a greater whirlwind than the preceding year in many ways. While still profoundly challenging, businesses have got to grips with issues like the pandemic and the Northern Ireland Protocol, adapting to the challenges before them and seeking new ways of working to meet their customer needs and obligations. I have witnessed the hardship and listened to stories of decimation and uncertainty. But I have also been heartened by how businesses reacted to the crisis, putting their people before themselves. As we look towards 2022 and consider all that it may bring, it is important to look at the challenges we have faced, what we have achieved, how we have progressed, and what still needs to be done. For the north-west, it has been a year of optimism and positivity as well as change and progression. February saw the heads of terms signed off on the £250 million Derry and Strabane City Deal, an investment package that will see 7,000 jobs created over the next decade and an extra £210 million in GVA (gross value added) generated in our regional economy annually. It is difficult to overstate the transformative potential this deal could have for our region – a part of the island that has historically been underfunded, underdeveloped, and under-prioritised. If we get this right, there is an opportunity to carve out the north-west as a leading location in Western Europe for technology, health and life sciences, diagnostics, artificial intelligence, and other emerging industries that will become increasingly important to the global economy over the next decade. It has been a joy to finally see future doctors and consultants training in the city, with the opening of Derry’s new School of Medicine in September. The further expansion of Ulster University’s Magee campus is something that City partners are committed to making a reality, and we will continue to work collaboratively towards this goal. We have welcomed new Executive ministers this year, new MLAs in Foyle, and new party leaders. Ahead of the next Assembly election in Spring 2022, we have been working hard to get our message out there and tell our local candidates precisely what they must support to see our region flourish and prosper. We hope that issues like our regional connectivity and infrastructure, the expansion of our local university, job creation, attracting new investment, and skills development will be front and centre for our elected representatives in May. Specific issues still linger as we look ahead to 2022. Continuing disagreement over the Northern Ireland Protocol does no one any favours, especially businesses. Companies crave certainty, and they thrive when things are stable. While the Protocol is by no means perfect and difficulties are still to be ironed out, these are not insurmountable. Both sides can come to a positive conclusion through committed dialogue, and Northern Ireland can begin to take serious advantage of access to both the UK and EU markets. With growing inflation, a squeezed labour market, and rising costs of materials, services, and utilities, businesses face persisting challenges as we go into the New Year. However, I have spoken regularly about my optimism for the north-west throughout the past 12 months. This optimism has not abated, and I still believe 2022 will be a year of opportunity and prosperity for our region. Dawn McLaughlin FCA is Founder of Dawn McLaughlin & Co. Chartered Accountants  and President of Londonderry Chamber of Commerce.

Dr Brian Keegan explains why less is often more when it comes to the written word, despite the innate tendency to elaborate rather than edit. The first draft standard from the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) was published last month. Dealing with climate, it runs to a mere 39 pages. But then you have to add on the appendices, which run to well over 500 pages. Even though it is still in draft, that’s a lot of material for people to get their heads around. There will be changes before it is finalised, and I wouldn’t bet that those changes will make it shorter. James Joyce rarely cut sentences when he edited his own work; he just added more words. Many of us subscribe to the Joycean approach. The business and regulatory environment has undoubtedly become more complex. That has a bearing on the volume of information we need to process, but it is not the only reason. Annual reports are growing in length; witness the growth in the size of the published accounts the Leinster Society considers and awards each year. Senior figures in the profession are now predicting the emergence of a more narrative form of assurance on corporate results. More reporting reflects business complexity and stakeholder expectations, of which the new ISSB draft standard is a paradigm example. Much of what we write shows a desire to be seen to have written rather than showing that we want to be read. We may literally be the authors of our own misfortune. Copy and paste functions aid and abet the blossoming of word counts. In this age of email and social media, it is trivial to point out that it is easier to send than to receive; it is certainly quicker. By tolerating this growth, we all do ourselves a disservice. One distinguished senior member and non-executive director put it succinctly to me earlier in the year, as he glumly surveyed yet another multi-volume set of board materials. The bigger the pile of papers, the more it suggested to him that the board didn’t trust management, that management didn’t trust the board, and that everyone assumed that everyone else had too much time on their hands. Even if none of that was true, it would be hard to disprove given the evidence. The tide may be turning, at least in some quarters. Many websites and journals now advertise the length of time it will take to read an article. This tactic is not without its risks either, as it insults fast readers and panics slow ones. Yet, we communicate best when the reader is minded to hear what we have to say. An assurance that the communication won’t take up too much of their time is a good way of getting an audience onside. The French philosopher, Blaise Pascal, is credited with first making the excuse for something he wrote being too long – because he had no time to make it shorter. Time cutting the verbiage is time well spent; the reader is much more likely to hear the message, but it’s not easy. We need to stop hiding behind executive summaries and elevator pitches and instead manage better what we write in the first place. I propose to lead by example. This column is supposed to be 600 words long, but it will be a little shorter this month. I hope the editor is okay with that. I hope you are too. Dr Brian Keegan is Director of Advocacy and Voice at Chartered Accountants Ireland.

In an age of information overload, what websites and internet resources can someone who wants to keep up-to-date with the world of finance and financial management rely on? Here’s Cormac Lucey’s selection. For daily business news… The RTÉ website offers us the opportunity to read the daily survey of business and financial news published by the main Dublin stockbrokers. This is not just a useful survey of the previous day’s financial economic news, it also offers readers the opportunity to understand how financially literate readers view that news.   Visit www.rte.ie/news/markets/broker_reports (and check out Goodbody Stockbrokers). For detailed financial data on leading Irish corporates… I opened up an account with Davy Stockbrokers largely to get access to the company’s Weekly Book. That is a compendium of corporate data for quoted companies covering recent financial history, near-term financial forecasts and key valuation metrics. For avid financial number crunchers such as myself, it’s the equivalent of crack cocaine! Visit www.davy.ie  For an up-to-date overview of the Irish economy… The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) borrows money on behalf of the State. That requires regularly updating international debt investors (who may buy Irish government debt) on economic developments here. Visit www.ntma.ie (and look for ‘Investor Presentation’).  For an overview of the Northern Ireland economy… EY’s Chief Economist, Neil Gibson, provides a regular and authoritative update on what is going on up North.  Visit www.ey.com (and search for ‘EY Economic Eye: Northern Ireland’). For a global economic overview from a monetary perspective… Simon Ward, Janus Henderson’s economic adviser, uses monetary and cycle analysis to assess economic and market prospects. Visit www.moneymovesmarkets.com For general trends in financial management… Two large international consultancies offer regular publications that combine a focus on the practical problems facing financial staff in corporations with intellectual rigour.  Visit www.mckinsey.com (and search for McKinsey on Finance, which offers readers a quarterly selection of useful and stimulating articles). Visit www.bcg.com/capabilities/corporate-finance-strategy/insights, which offers regular corporate finance updates. For current developments in international markets… The Financial Times has an excellent capital markets blog (www.ft.com/alphaville), and there is an offshoot of that (www.ftalphaville.ft.com/longroom/home) on which you can (once registered) access interesting research reports from the world’s top investment banks. Another website where you can access high-level research reports from investment banks is www.savvyinvestor.net (registration required). For the technical situation of main financial markets… Steve Blumenthal, executive chair of Capital Management Group, produces a useful technical survey of the main US markets each week.  Visit www.cmgwealth.com/ri-category/on-my-radar  For financial chatter, conspiracy theories and the occasional blinding insight... It’s all available here: www.zerohedge.com  Cormac Lucey is an economic commentator and lecturer at Chartered Accountants Ireland.

As businesses across the island of Ireland grapple with the post-Brexit trading environment, any and all opportunities for growth should be grasped with both hands, writes Dawn McLaughlin. The new trading arrangements brought about by Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol have caused much economic and political upheaval and controversy since the turn of the year. We are all well versed by now in the arguments for and against the Protocol. However, it remains the case that businesses, in the main, are largely supportive of the new arrangements in the absence of any better solutions. While no one would claim that it is a perfect situation, for businesses in Northern Ireland – particularly those in the north-west border region – there are advantages. Being able to trade freely with the rest of the UK and into the EU and the rest of the island of Ireland is a distinct competitive advantage afforded to businesses on one side of the Derry-Donegal border that isn’t available to the other. Another positive consequence has seen north-south trade in Ireland boom since the start of 2021. It has increased by over 60%, according to the Central Statistics Office’s most recent figures. Some local businesses have begun trading with their southern neighbours for the first time, shifting supply chains and finding new markets and customers. However, many of these businesses will not have realised that they are technically exporting their goods or services, often considered to be the preserve of shipping products across the world. The Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with our partners at Invest Northern Ireland, Derry City and Strabane District Council, InterTradeIreland, and Enterprise North West, have established Growth North West. This partnership is developing new initiatives to help businesses grow their operations across several business areas, such as exporting and innovation. Focusing on the export journey first, experts will cover different aspects of the exporting process to show attendees how to make the most of the export opportunities available to them. Then, businesses can schedule a one-on-one appointment for a more bespoke review of their exporting needs and challenges. This covers everything from export documentation, logistics and sales prospecting to maximising social media and perfecting your pitch. Growth North West is a one-stop-shop for everything your business needs to begin expanding into new markets and trading with new customers. As well as a series of monthly webinars, a mapping exercise has been carried out detailing all available export support. As a sole practitioner, I know that keeping up-to-date with ever-changing programmes and supports is hugely time-consuming. So, to help Chartered Accountants add value and guide clients on their export journey, Growth North West will hold awareness sessions in the coming months. These sessions will be publicised through the Chamber and are open to all. We look forward to engaging with businesses of all kinds, shapes and sizes as they begin or expand their export operations. There are significant opportunities for our local firms, both beyond these shores and on our shared island. As we all grapple with the post-Brexit trading environment, any and all opportunities for growth should be grasped with both hands. Growth North West aims to deliver stimulation and growth opportunities for our region at a time of economic uncertainty and upheaval. Throughout the pandemic, firms have been innovating their services and pivoting their operations to stay afloat. Looking outwards at new export markets is one way our local businesses can positively react to both the effects of the pandemic and the UK leaving the EU. Dawn McLaughlin is Founder of Dawn McLaughlin & Co. Chartered Accountants and President of Londonderry Chamber of Commerce.