Barclays, Sage team up to simplify finance for UK-Based SMEs

By Puja Sharma

Partnership brings banking and accounting together to help small businesses save time and focus on growth

Barclays and Sage the accounting, financial, HR, and payroll technology for small and mid-sized businesses, have announced a new strategic partnership designed to help businesses save time on business administration, gain clearer oversight of their finances and keep pace with evolving UK tax requirements.

The partnership brings together Barclays’ business banking expertise with Sage’s accounting technology to address the everyday administration that underpins running a small business.

Barclays and Sage partnership simplifies business admin for UK SMEs. Financial administration continues to consume a significant amount of small business owners’ time. Research from Sage shows the average small business loses 24 working days a year to financial administration – the equivalent of working 13 months in a 12-month year. By working together, Barclays and Sage will help businesses save time through modern digital management tools.

The partnership will also help businesses navigate the expansion of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, supporting clearer, more up-to-date financial oversight as regulatory requirements evolve.

Abdul Qureshi, Head of Business Banking at Barclays, said: “Small business owners consistently tell us that they are spending too much time on administration and not enough time growing their businesses. By partnering with Sage, we are bringing trusted banking and accounting tools closer together to simplify day-to-day financial management and unlock capacity. As Making Tax Digital expands, this partnership will help our customers stay on top of their obligations whilst focusing on what matters most – running and growing their business.”

Gordon Stuart, SVP of FinTech and Embedded Services at Sage, said, “Small businesses want technology that makes running their business simpler, not more complicated. Working with Barclays, we are taking steps to bringing banking and accounting closer together to reduce that burden and give owners a clearer picture of their finances. This will help small businesses get hold of the tools they actually need.”