Bringing SME Accounting Closer To The Bank

As KPMG explores new ways to get closer to small business clients — including recent efforts to dip its toe into the world of alternative lending — the Big Four U.K. auditor is reaching out to new collaborators. One of those partners was just announced as Metro Bank, yet another venture that sees KPMG tighten SME ties.

Reports in Accountancy Age late last week said KPMG and Metro Bank are pairing up to provide KPMG’s small business customers with financial guidance in an effort to cut red tape and ease friction in SME finance. Through KPMG’s small business accounting arm, SMEs can link with advisers at Metro Bank, the companies said, to strengthen their financial performance and cut time spent on administrative tasks.

“We’re giving business owners time back to focus on growing their business and achieving their goals,” said KMPG Head of Small Business Accounting Bivek Sharma, reports said.

[bctt tweet=”‘We’re giving business owners time back to focus on growing their business and achieving their goals.'”]

According to reports, linking small businesses’ accounting and banking, through both KPMG and Metro Bank, will save the companies up to 45 days every year in streamlined and reduced time spent on bureaucratic processes.

“Our new alliance minimizes the time businesses have to spend confronting bureaucratic hurdles,” Sharma added.

Small business owners will have access to KPMG’s small business accounting tools and online and local Metro Bank services seven days a week, the firms announced.

Separately, Metro Bank Chief Executive Craig Donaldson hinted that the new partnership will look to return some capabilities to small business owners that may have been lost or diminished amid recent economic struggles.

In addition to the partnership having “tangible benefits” to SMEs, Donaldson also said that small businesses in the U.K. today are still “underserved and mistreated” by their banks.

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