Where to go for help

Abstract

Last year over 500,000 people who were starting up, or running a small business used the services of a business advisory organization. Most were simple telephone enquiries but others involved face-to-face counselling sessions – perhaps to help raise money or to cope with an in-depth tax problem. There are now over 300 organizations concerned with providing help, advice and resources (including finance) for small businesses and those starting them. For the most part, these services are provided free or at a very low cost. In order to give a better understanding of their nature and purpose it will help to look at them as divided into three categories: general business advisory agencies, business associations, and other useful organizations.