One Man Band Stand

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills published reports two years apart on the number of businesses in the UK:-

• As at 1st January 2010
• As at 1st January 2012

The most interesting aspect of the statistics concerns the number of “sole trader” companies in existence, to which can be added a decent proportion of the 2+ companies as people bring their spouses or partners in to help with administration and take advantage of the tax breaks.

The headline news is that the number of those businesses increased by 57,500 to 550,530 whilst their average billings fell by £21k.  Not all of these will be interim managers because builders, gardeners, journalists, writers, BBC non-employees and sundry public servants will also be included in these numbers, but there are some interesting statistical observations to make.

• Average day rates for this group of people in 2010 was between £774 (assuming 220 days worked) and £1064 (assuming 160 days worked), average billings were £170k
• Average day rates for this group of people in 2012 was between £677 (assuming 220 days worked) and £930 (assuming 160 days worked), average billings were £149k
• The number of people in this group increased by 11.6% whilst the average day rate decreased by 12.5% during the same period; that’s about par
• If only 10% of these people entered the Executive Interim Management market then the pool of interim candidates roughly doubled over two years.
• Ouch!

One look at the High Street will confirm that England is no longer a nation of shop keepers. But, at least, now we know what we are!

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