Supporting Scotland’s Practitioners

Your views are sought on late payments and business support for Scottish SMEs

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Following our recent event, where we brought together a group of members with the Small Business Commissioner to discuss late payment problems, we want to hear more from practitioners and SMEs in Scotland about your experience in recent months. Please spare a couple of minutes to respond to our short survey.

The latest grants support 

There are a variety of grants and other support tools available for businesses:

  • For retail and town centre-based businesses in Renfrewshire, grants of between £1,000 and £12,000 are available for certain shopfront improvements. The first round of applications closes on 7 August; there will be a second round from 10 October-21 November.
  • There are a variety of business support grants, including for start-ups and capital improvements, for businesses in Moray.
  • Information on a wide variety of local schemes for business start-ups or developments across Scotland is available.
  • Additional training funds are available to businesses paying the apprenticeship levy through the Flexible Workforce Development Fund; the deadline for applications is 31 August.
  • Last chance to sign up for free online training via LinkedIn Learning, on more than 16,000 topics, for those aged 25 and over in Scotland is available until August.

Public consultation on short-term lets

If you have clients with self-catering or B&Bs in the Highlands, Highland Council is consulting now on the new licensing scheme, which will be required for existing operators from next April – respond before 5 August.

Scottish Financial Enterprise membership

We are pleased that ACCA Scotland has become a member of Scottish Financial Enterprise, the highly respected industry body that represents the financial sector in Scotland. Membership gives us and our members access to sector-wide events and the ability to represent the role of the accountancy profession in SFE’s policy work – on which it works closely with the Scottish Government and partners such as Skills Development Scotland.

Audit Scotland reviews Scottish Covid spending

Read the auditor’s report on the Scottish government’s approach. 

Keep in touch

We really value your input on matters affecting the profession in Scotland. We would welcome your regular feedback, so why not become a part of our Member Insights Community?

Alternatively, please feel free to drop us a line at susan.love@accaglobal.com.