Accountancy firm urges businesses to talk numbers

Vibrant Accountancy is encouraging business leaders to talk more openly about their numbers after research found that finance is what most feel stressed about.

Bev Wakefield, owner of Vibrant, has created a toolkit to help others after data from Simply Business found that 62% of business owners feel stressed about their company finances.

Bev said: “We have created this toolkit to help others to be more confident in understanding their numbers.

“Numeracy is used every day, whether it’s adding up how many steps you’ve walked throughout the day or measuring up blinds for the bathroom.

“When it comes to business, it’s working out the salary details of employees, totalling up their holiday entitlement and making sure that the books balance.

“Our kit includes links to easy-to-understand videos created by our team to help with this, as well as a personal budget template to get you started.

“We want to empower others to have the numeracy skills that allow them to feel confident in running their business.

“We want finances to cloud the ability for business owners to focus on the day job.”

Bev’s comments come after another successful National Numeracy Day, organised by charity National Numeracy.

It was set up in 2012 to improve how people across the UK understand and work with numbers in day-to-day life, sparking better opportunities and brighter futures.

Dr Thomas Hunt is an Associate Professor in Psychology and lead of the Mathematics Anxiety Research Group at the University of Derby.

He has also shared his research with the charity behind National Numeracy Day previously.

Dr Hunt’s research revealed that adults with poor numeracy skills are twice as likely to be unemployed in the UK, and that 49% of working age adults currently have the numeracy levels of a primary school child.

The average cost to individuals with poor numeracy is £460 per year.

Bev said: “I was never a big fan of maths at school. My favourite subject was business.

“But I know how important it is in everyday life. From keeping track of time and targets to checking your payslip, it all requires number know-how and our toolkit can help businesses to become confident with numbers, and to empower their employees.”