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The government has promised that new reforms to corporate reporting regulations will save companies more than £450 million a year.
Simpler paperwork for SMEs and exempting more businesses from audits will be introduced, the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade said.
With average annual reports and accounts of some businesses running to 98,000 words, longer than J. R. R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’, the government said the current rules are “too complex and burdensome for every business, from multinational companies to the removals firm down the road”.
It said a “digital-first approach” will be introduced by making electronic shareholder communications the default to cut down on red tape.
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds commented:
“No-one goes into business to fill out forms. For years, hardworking firms in this country have been weighed down by pen-pushing paperwork and frustrating costs, ticking boxes that do nothing to help them grow their business.
“We’re stripping back outdated bureaucracy and building a common-sense system fit for a 21st-century economy. This will cut the cost of doing business, giving breathing room to bosses across the country, and free them up to focus on what they do best, creating jobs and growth.”
