Small business insights in the COVID-19 crisis

An insight into key questions being asked, and the way the small business community is responding to this crisis.

What are small businesses asking about COVID-19?

The outbreak of COVID-19 has already had an enormous impact on businesses big and small, and we know how hard accountants across the country are working to support their clients through this national and global challenge.

But there’s more to be done

There’s a huge number of small and micro-businesses who are looking for more advice and information specific to their situation, but they’re just not getting the help they need.

Drawing on user activity on our sister site, UK Business Forums, this report summarises:

the key questions being asked by business owners right now,
the way the small business community is responding to the crisis,
suggestions on how you can use this information to support this community.

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About this report

This report was created by Melissa Tredinnick who alongside her role at PracticeWeb, is the content editor for UK Business Forums (UKBF).

The coronavirus outbreak is affecting businesses of every size, and in every part of the country, and on UK Business Forums it’s clear to see the extent of small business owners’ concerns.

The website is full of posts and discussions about the effects of the virus, with users sharing their concerns, questions and experiences.

One ongoing thread containing updates on the outbreak started at the end of January, when some business owners were already beginning to see impacts to their supply chain. This has had more than 31,000 views and 1,378 replies to
date.

A dedicated subforum was also set up for the topic on 24 March, which already contains 45 threads and more than 900 individual posts.

Coronavirus-related discussions are still taking place on other subforums, such as Accounts & Finance, Employment & HR, and Legal.

We know you’ve been busy supporting your clients in this crisis, and you probably have a good understanding of the problems on their minds and the questions they’re asking.

A number of business owners aren’t finding the information they need

But there are still a number of business owners out there who aren’t finding the information they need.

So, to help your firm in supporting those people, we’ve looked at a selection of recent threads in which the COVID-19 outbreak has been discussed, and summed up the key issues that have come up over the past few weeks.

With this information to hand, you can start thinking about how to answer these, and similar questions, through your channels – whether that’s blog posts on your website, emails to clients, or posts on social media – to reach those that might still need advice.