THE South East’s 864,550 strong army of sole traders and micro businesses estimate they’re spending the equivalent of 376,944 working days collectively each month on managing their finances.

And even that figure could be a serious underestimation according to KashFlow which commissioned a study among sole traders and owners of businesses with less than ten employees.

The idea was to get a better understanding of the pressures they feel when it comes to things like balancing their books, managing cashflow and doing their annual tax return.

Despite almost a third of respondents in the South East admitting that managing their finances leaves them feeling stressed, only six per cent rated their finance management abilities as ‘not good’.

A very high 83 per cent rated themselves either ‘really good’ or ‘not bad’ at doing things like keeping on top of cashflow, managing payments and staying compliant.

As part of the study, KashFlow considered the list of jobs that are part of financial management for sole traders and micro businesses, all of which business owners and sole traders in the South East say they’re currently fitting into 2.94 hours a month.

Oliver Shaw, CEO of KashFlow, said: “It’s really encouraging to see that many of those we surveyed feel confident and in control when it comes to their business finances, especially as we know it’s not their favourite thing to do.

“However the figures suggest that many could be underestimating how long they actually spend each month, or perhaps overlooking important finance management tasks which will help them stay in better control of their business in the long term.

“We know that they would far rather be earning money doing what they love than staring at a spreadsheet.”

Roy Maugham, tax partner at UHY Hacker Young, said: “There is increasing pressure on small and mid-sized businesses to spend their time and money on systems to ensure that tax affairs are accurate.”