Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The United Kingdom Survey of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises' Finances, 2007, conducted by the Centre for Business Research based at the University of Cambridge, covered a sample of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK with up to 250 employees, including zero employee businesses, in all sectors, and the resulting data was weighted up to be representative of the national business population.

A consortium of public and private sector organisations had previously commissioned Warwick Business School to carry out a similar survey in 2004, the United Kingdom Survey of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises' Finances, 2004 (held at the UKDA under SN 5326). The 2004 survey was then repeated in 2008 (see under SN 6314). As the 2007 survey made a number of changes to the 2004 questionnaire, it is not a direct member of the UKSMEF series, but stands alongside it as a separate cross-sectional survey.

The 2007 survey collected information about the business owner / leader, the age of the business, the types of finance used, number of finance providers and the length of the relationship, switching banks, types of new finance applied for and the success in obtaining this finance.


Main Topics:

The survey included sections on:

• general business characteristics
• ownership/leader details
• information on start-up businesses
• use of finance products: overdrafts, deposits, loans and mortgages, leasing and HP, factoring/invoice discounting, credit cards, equity finance
• new finance sought
• switching banks
• taxation
• finance in context
• balance sheet information