Check That Company Warns Against Over-Optimism And Complacency On Prospects For Growth

Check That Company (www.checkthatcompany.co.uk), the online service that gives small businesses an easy and affordable way to run credit checks and company reports, is warning British businesses not to fall into the trap of becoming over-optimistic about growth prospects and keep on applying stringent rules to extending credit and enforcing terms and conditions.

In its latest Economic Forecast, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) raised its expectations for UK GDP growth to 1.7 percent for this year, and to 2.2 percent for 2011., but it also said that in that the pace of growth will slow down over the medium-term as deficit-reduction measures start to bite. Growth of 1.8 percent is expected in 2012 by the BCC.

Dennis Scott, Director of Operations for check that company, says that it is important for businesses not to get carried away with positive outlooks. “We all want to see a return to healthy growth and we’ve precious little good news over the past two years, so there is a tendency to see any silver lining as the dawning of a new era of prosperity. But, as the BCC prediction for next year shows, this is going to be a long hard road and we are likely to endure quite a lot more pain before we make any significant gain. All businesses need to remain vigilant and guard against the prospects of being crippled by late payments and bad debts. They need to carry out proper checks before their do business with new customers and keep a close watch on anyone that is delaying payment as well.”

The check that company website service enables firms to run instant business credit checks and order detailed company reports and director reports online. It provides instant access to the accounts of more than seven million companies in the UK and Ireland and to over 400 million original document images, detailing financial reports and limited company details. You can also search a database of 9.3 million company directorships. Initial reports, containing clear risk assessment indicators, can be purchased for only £1.99 with a second offered free for first-time users. You can perform basic company searches on the site without committing to buying any reports or images.

Businesses can register with the service simply by going to www.checkthatcompany.co.uk . The service operates on a pay-as-you-go model so it is very flexible and easy to manage and, after taking up the initial offer, registered users will pay as little as £2.49 for full company reports and just 99p each for document images.