Small Businesses Rejecting Official Economic Forecasts in Favour of Peer Insights

Small Businesses Rejecting Official Economic Forecasts in Favour of Peer Insights PR Newswire LONDON, September 10, 2012 LONDON, September 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A survey of UK small businesses has revealed that official government economic projections play no part in the majority of business leaders' planning and decision-making. [ref: q7] The survey, commissioned by AXA Business Insurance, found that a significant majority (92 per cent) of respondents are not using official government economic predictions in their planning processes, despite continued uncertainty over the health of the UK economy. [ref: q7] More than half (58 per cent) of those disregarding government forecasts when reviewing their business plans believed that the predictions were not relevant to their business and nearly a third (31 per cent) did not believe them to be accurate. [ref: q8] Commenting on the findings, Darrell Sansom, Managing Director, Direct and Partnerships at AXA Business Insurance, said: "The UK's small business community has long relied on help from a variety of sources to inform their business plans - be they government bodies, trade organisations, industry peers or others. The fact that so many business owners are choosing not to use these sources of data suggests they're tuning into other channels and finding more accurate information flows elsewhere.