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Following Liam Fox’s speech on international trade at WTO in Geneva, ACCA’s head of UK, John Williams, says:
‘Big multinationals have the size and access to expertise to deal with burdens. However, it is companies that are buying and/or selling across only one or two borders which are hardest hit by regulatory and tax complexity – and are less prepared to deal with uncertainty.
‘We know from our member engagement some businesses turn away from exporting, because the perception is, it is too difficult. This helps understand why only a fifth of UK SMEs export.
‘It’s vital for government to increase exporting and it is right that government is looking for opportunities to open up new trading markets. Policy makers must not underplay the importance of the EU as a trading partner particularly for SMEs, as recent data shows 82% of SMEs that do export, do so to the EU.’