ACCA考官文章解读 Business Finance for SMEs-（F9）

Prior to considering some of the finance sources available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) we should first consider what we mean by SMEs, why they are important, and why they often find raising finance difficult. In this article, we consider potential finance sources that an SME could use. There will be a particular focus on the more modern sources of crowd funding and supply chain financing that have been introduced to the F9 syllabus and are examinable from September 2015. Finally,we will consider how, and why, governments often try to assist the SME sector.

在考虑对中小企业而言可行的一些融资来源时，我们应先考虑中小企业意味着什么，为什么中小企业那么重要以及为什么他们经常面对融资难的问题。这篇文章中，我们给出了一些中小企业潜在的融资来源，尤其关注如今比较现代化的众筹和供应链融资的问题，它们刚刚被引入F9的考纲，并从2015年9月可能被考到。最后，这篇文章考虑政府为何以及如何帮助中小企业融资。

WHAT IS AN SME?

什么是中小企业？

It is generally accepted that an SME is something larger than those businesses that are fundamentally a vehicle for the self-employment of their owner. Equally an SME is unlikely to be listed on any stock exchange and is likely to be owned by a relatively small number of shareholders. Indeed, very often the majority of the shareholders come from one extended family. Hence the term SME covers a very wide range of businesses.

一个广泛接受的定义是，中小企业是那种比所有者自营的交通工具或单位大一些的企业。不过同样的中小企业不太可能在任何一个证券交易所上市，而且很可能是由一小群股东所有。事实上，经常大多数股东来源于同一个大家族。所以，中小企业这个定义其实囊括了很多类型的企业。

WHY ARE SMEs IMPORTANT?

为什么中小企业很重要？

As we have just seen, the term SME covers avery wide range of businesses. As a result, the SME sector as a whole is very important to the economies of many countries. Estimates vary widely but within the UK, SMEs probably account for about half of employment and half of national income, and hence are of great importance.

As SMEs are relatively small they are often more flexible and quicker to innovate than larger companies. Indeed, SMEs are often thought to be better at embracing new trends and technologies. Obviously it is important to any economy that this occurs. One consequence for some successful SMEs is that they are acquired by a larger company with the financial resources to fully exploit the potential of what the SME has developed. When this happens the SME sector has provided a useful service as it has helped a larger company to innovate and continue its success into the future.

In economies, such as the UK, where manufacturing industry has declined as a proportion of total economic activity and the service sector has become increasingly important, the SME sector is likely to continue to grow. This is because, in the service sector, economies of scale are normally less important than they are in manufacturing. Hence,within the growing service sector it is easier for SMEs to survive and flourish.

Finally, it is important that SMEs can flourishas potentially a number of the SMEs of today could be the bigger companies of tomorrow.

如刚才所见，中小企业囊括很多公司。因而，中小企业这一整体都对许多国家的经济很重要。例如在英国，中小企业大约解决了一半就业问题，占据国民收入的一半，因而非常重要。

因为中小企业相对较小，它们往往更灵活，比大公司创新更快。事实上，中小企业往往能更好的利用新趋势和激素。对一个经济体而言，这点很重要。许多成功的中小企业被大公司收购来更充分的利用中小企业所发展的。当这发生时，中小企业提供了一个很有价值的服务，因为它帮助了大公司创新和未来的成功。

例如英国在内的经济体重，制造业占总经济的比例减少，服务行业变得越来越重要，中小企业很可能进一步发展。这是因为，服务行业中，规模经济就不如制造业中来的重要。因此，中小企业更容易在服务行业中生存和发展。

最后一点也很重要，欣欣向荣的中小企业很可能成为明天的大企业。

WHY DO SMEs FIND RAISINGFINANCE DIFFICULT?

为何中小企业面对融资难的问题?

The directors of SMEs often complain that the lack of finance stops them growing and fully exploiting profitable investment opportunities. This gap between the finance available to SMEs and the finance that they could productively use is often known as the ‘funding or financing gap’. As advisers to SMEs it is important that we understand why this gap occurs.

中小企业的董事们总是抱怨因为缺乏资金而导致企业增长暂停也错失一些可盈利的投资机会。中小企业可得到的资金和中小企业能有效使用的资金量之间的差距被称为融资缺口。作为中小企业的建议者，我们应明白为何这一融资缺口会产生。

The first thing to understand is that there is a limited supply of funds from investors. Once potential investors have satisfied their need and desire to spend and have paid their tax there is often little left over to be invested. An additional issue at the current time in theUK is that the returns available to investors on a typical deposit account areso low that investment does not seem attractive.

首先来源于投资者的资金供给有限。往往潜在投资者满足了他们的消费需求并支付税收之后，就很难有钱余下用来投资。而且，英国目前投资者的回报率往往是很低的储蓄账户回报率，投资并不具有吸引力。

Equally there is a competitive market forthe limited supply of investors’ funds. Governments and larger companies have agreat appetite for the funds available and, hence, the SME sector can be squeezed out.

The SME sector tends to suffer because SMEs are viewed as a less attractive investment opportunity than many others due tothe high levels of uncertainty and risk they are perceived to have. This perception of risk is due to a number of reasons including:

•       SMEs often have a limited track record in raising investment and providing suitable returns to their investors

•       SMEs often have non-existent or very limited internal controls

•       SMEs often have few external controls. For instance they are unlikely to be a biding by the rules of any stock exchange and due to their size they are unlikely to attract much press scrutiny. Indeed, in the UK many SMEs are no longer required to have their annual accounts audited

•       SMEs often have one dominant owner-manager whose decisions may face little questioning

•       SMEs often have few tangible assets to offer as security.

但是有限的投资者资金供给往往需要面对激烈的竞争。资金通常更偏好于政府和大公司，于是，中小企业被挤出。

中小企业比较困难。因为投资者一般会认为中小企业的投资机会和其他大公司和政府相比不那么吸引，因为需要面对很高的不确定性和风险。这种风险的认知是由以下原因造成的：

1、中小企业的良好投资者回报记录有限。2.中小企业几乎没有内控或内控很有限。3.中小企业的外部控制很少。例如他们不太可能服从证券交易所的规定，而且因为它们的规模它们很难吸引媒体的监督。事实上，英国许多中小企业的年报不需要审计。4.中小企业往往有一个主导所有者又兼职管理者，他的决策具有局限性。5.中小企业的固定资产很少，不足以抵押。

As a result of the above, investors are nervous of investing in SMEs as they are concerned about how their funds might be used and the returns that they might get. Hence, the easiest thing for an investor is to decline any opportunity to invest in an SME, especially when there are so many other investment opportunities available to them.

Accountants can do little to alter the supply of funds or the competitive market for those funds, but can assist by showing how an SME could reduce the level of risk it is perceived to have,thereby improving its ability to raise finance. For instance, SMEs that can show that they have treated earlier investors well, have adopted some key internal controls, and have a rigorous and documented approach to decision making are more likely to be attractive to investors.

因为以上原因，投资者对投资中小企业很担忧，因为他们需要担心资金的使用问题和他们可能取得的回报。因此，对投资者而言，最简单的事情是减少对中小企业的投资，尤其是市场中还有很多投资机会。

会计几乎不能改变资金的供给，但可以通过展示中小企业如何减少如上风险来起到辅助性作用，从而改善企业的融资能力。例如，中小企业可以表现他们对先前的投资者都给予了合理充足的回报，已经采取了一些关键的内控管理，并有了严格的书面的决策制定机制从而使中小企业更加吸引投资者。

WHAT ARE THE POTENTIALSOURCES OF FINANCE FOR SMEs?

中小企业潜在的融资来源有哪些？

In reality there are quite a few potential sources of finance for SMEs. However, many of them have practical problems that may limit their usefulness. Some key sources and their limitations are briefly described below. Crowd funding and supply chain financing are then considered in more detail.

实际上，中小企业的融资来源还是有一些的。然后，因为一些操作性的问题它们的作用被有所限制。一些关键融资来源和它们的局限性将在下文中被简单介绍。众筹和供应链融资将被讨论的详细一点。

The SME owner, family and friends

中小企业所有者及其家人朋友

This is potentially a very good source of finance because these investors may be willing to accept a lower return than many other investors as their motivation to invest is not purely financial. The key limitation is that, for most of us, the finance that we can raise personally, and from friends and family, is somewhat limited.

这是一个很好的潜在融资来源，因为这些投资者会原因接受一个较低的回报率，因为他们的投资动机不仅仅是因为财务回报。但关键的局限性在于，通过个人，家人朋友得到的资金非常有限。

The business angel

天使投资人

A business angel is a wealthy individual willing to take the risk of investing in SMEs. One limitation is that these individuals are not common and are very often quite particular about what they are prepared to invest in. Once a business angel is interested they can become very useful to the SME, as they will often have great business acumen themselves and are likely to have many useful contacts.

天使投资人是一个愿意接受投资中小企业风险的富有的个人。一个缺陷在于这些投资人并不多见，而且对他们准备投资的项目非常挑剔。一旦天使投资人感兴趣，他们会对中小企业起很大作用，因为他们自己本身是精明的商人，而且有许多有价值的关系网络。

Trade credit

商业信贷

SMEs, like any company, can take creditfrom their suppliers. However, this is only short-term and, indeed, if theirsuppliers are larger companies who have identified them as a potentially riskySME the ability to stretch the credit period may be limited.

中小企业和其他公司一样可以从供应方获得借贷。然后，这只是短期的，而且，如果他们的供应商是大公司，并把他们看作是高风险的中小企业，信贷期可能被限制。

Factoring and invoice discounting

保付代理和发票折现

Both of these sources of finance effectively let a company raise finance against the security of their outstanding receivables. Again, this finance is only short-term and is often more expensive than an overdraft. However, one of the features of these sources of finance is that, as an SME grows, their outstanding receivables will grow and so the amount they can borrow from their factor or from invoice discounting will also grow. Hence, factoring and invoice discounting are two of the very limited number of finance sources which grow automatically as the business grows.

这种方法可以让公司有效的收到他们的应收账款的资金。然后，这样的融资方式只是短期的，而且比银行透支要昂贵。不过，这样的融资方式有一个特点，当中小企业发展适合，他们的应收账款会不断增加，而他们可以从保付代理借到的资金和发票折现也更多。所以，这两种方式随着公司的扩大他们的融到的资金也会自动增大。

Leasing

租赁

Leasing assets rather than buying them is often very useful for an SME as it avoids the need to raise the capital cost.However, leasing is only really possible on tangible assets such as cars,machines, etc.

租赁某项资产而不是购买某项资产对中小企业是非常有用的。因为这避免了资本成本的母鸡需要。然后，租赁仅仅可以对汽车、机器这类的固定资产有用。

Bank finance

银行借款

Banks may be willing to provide an overdraft of some sort and may be willing to lend in the long term where that lending can be secured on major assets such as land and buildings. However,raising medium-term finance to fund operations is often more difficult for SMEs as banks are traditionally rather conservative. This is understandable as the loss on one defaulted loan requires many good loans to recover that loss.Hence, many SMEs end up financing medium-term, and potentially longer-term assets, with short-term finance such as an overdraft. This is poor matching and very much less than ideal. This issue is often known as the ‘maturity gap’ as there is a mismatch of the maturity of the assets and liabilities within thebusiness.

Furthermore, banks will often require personal guarantees from the owner-manager of the SME, which means the owner-manager has to risk his personal wealth in order to fund the company.

银行愿意提供一些种类的投资而且如果有一些例如土地大楼的抵押物的借贷时，他们可以提供长期借贷。然而，对中小企业而言，中期的融资非常困难，因为银行都比较传统而饱受。这是可以理解的，因为一个违约贷款需要很多正常归还的贷款来弥补损失。所以，许多中小企业尽管申请中期的贷款或运用了长期的资产抵押，一般会得到透支类的短期融资。这很难匹配，也远远低于理想化的状态。这一问题被称为到期缺口，因为企业的资产和负债的到期不匹配。

另外，银行往往要求中小企业的所有者提供个人担保，这意味着，所有者需要冒着个人财富的风险来为公司融资。

The venture capitalist

风险资本

A venture capitalist company is very often a subsidiary of a company that has significant cash holdings that they need to invest. The venture capitalist subsidiary is a high-risk, potentially high-return part of their investment portfolio. Hence, many banks will have venture capitalist subsidiaries. In order to attract venture capital funding an SME has to have a business idea that may create the high returns the venture capitalist is seeking. Hence, for many SMEs, operating in regular business,venture capitalist financing may not be possible. Furthermore, a venture capital is trarely wants to remain invested in the long term and, hence, any proposal to them must show how they will be able to ‘exit’ or release their value after a number of years. This is often done by selling the company to a bigger company operating in the same trade or by growing the company to such a size that a stock exchange listing is possible.

一家风投公司往往是一个有很多现金持有需要投资的公司的子公司。风投在他们的投资组合中是一个高风险高回报的部分。所以，许多银行都有风投子公司。为了吸引风投资金，中小一起要有一个可能创造风投们在寻找的巨大收益的商业概念。所以，对许多普通商业环境的中小企业，风投融资不是那么现实。另外，风险投资很傻想长期投资，所以，任何一个项目计划书都必须要展示风头的推出路径或价值释放路径。这通常需要把公司卖给一个更大的运营相同项目的公司或者把这家公司发展到一定程度以上市。

Listing

上市

By achieving a listing on a stock exchange an SME would become a quoted company and, hence, raising finance would become less of an issue. However, before a listing can be considered the company must grow to such a size that a listing is feasible. Many SMEs can never hope to achieve this.

通过在一家证券交易所上市，一个中小企业公司就变成了一个上市公司，而融资难问题就会变得弱化。然后，在考虑成为一家上市公司前，一家公司必须发展到一个可以上市的规模。许多中小企业不能做到这一点。

Supply chain financing

供应链融资

In supply chain financing (SCF) the finance follows the value as it moves through the supply chain. SCF is relatively new and is different to traditional working capital financing methods, such as factoring or offering settlement discounts, because it promotes collaboration between buyers and sellers in the supply chain. Traditionally there was competition as the buyer wanted to take extended credit, and the seller wanted quick payment. SCF works very well where the buyer has a better credit rating than the seller.

在供应链融资中，资金随着供应链的移动而移动。供应链融资是一个相对较新的不同于以往传统的如保付代理的流动资本融资方法，因为它促进了买卖双方在供应链中的合作。传统意义上，这之间是有竞争的，因为购买者想要延长借贷期而出售者想要更快回笼资金。供应链融资可以在买者比卖者有更高的信用等级时运行的比较好。

Example

例子

Company A (which has an A+ credit rating)buys goods from Company B

(which has a B+ credit rating). Co B has agreed to give Co A 30 days credit.

Co B invoices Co A.

Co A approves the invoice.

Co A is expected to pay the amount due toits financial institution – ‘Bank C’ –

in 30 days at which point the funds are immediately remitted to Co B.

However, Co B can request the funds from Bank C prior to the due date. If they do this they receive the payment less a suitable discount. This discount is likely to be less than the discount charged if Co B used traditional factoring or invoice discounting. This is because they are using Bank C (Co A’s financial institution) and benefit from Co A’s higher credit rating as the debt is the debt of Co A, and by approving the invoice CoA has confirmed this.

Equally, if Co A wants to delay payment beyond the 30-day point, then it can do so. However, when Co A does finally pay Bank C some interest will be due. Obviously this interest charge reflects the credit rating of Co A.

公司A（评级为A+）从公司B购买商品（评级为B+），公司B同意给公司A一个30天的信贷期。B给A公司开了发票，A公司确认了发票。A公司希望由它的金融机构C银行在30天内把资金还给B公司。

然而，B公司要求从C银行来的这笔资金需要早于最晚日期。如果银行可以做到，他们可以收取一个更高折扣的现金。这个折扣可能低于折现率如果C银行使用传统的保付代理或发票折现。这是因为他们在运用C银行和A公司的更高的信贷期评级的好处，因为这负债是A公司的负债，而且通过A公司的发票更确认了这一点。

同样，如果A公司想要延迟30的支付其，它也可以这样做。当然，到时候A公司需要给C公司一些利息。明显这利息也会体现A公司的信用评级。

Technological solutions are used in order to efficiently link the buyer, the seller and the financial institution. These technological solutions effectively automate the business and financial process from initiation to completion.

技术可以很高效的联系买者卖者和金融机构。这一方法有效的自动化了公司从开始到结束的金融流程。

SCF can bring considerable benefit and can cover more than one step in the supply chain. It is perhaps of most benefit where considerable value is constantly moving through the supply chain, such as occurs in the automotive trade. SCF is only currently used in a relatively small proportion of companies, but its use is expected to grow significantly.As with factoring and invoice discounting, this source of finance is only short term in nature.

供应链融资可以带来很多好处，而且可以跨越供应链的层级。最大的好处是大量的价值持续不断的在供应链中游走，就像一个自动化的蚂蚁。目前，供应链融资只被一小部分公司所采纳，但它有望迅速的发展。因为和保付代理等项目，这项融资本质上是短期的。

Obviously, SCF could be of great help to SMEs that are supplying larger companies, or even the suppliers of larger companies, with a good credit rating. As the technological solutions required to make SCF work become more widespread and SCF grows, more and more SMEs are likely to benefit.

很明显的，供应链融资对那些给有着良好信用评级的大公司供货或大公司的供应商供货的中小企业有着哈达的好处。随着技术的发展，供应链融资将被广泛传播，而且越来越多的中小企业可以从中受益。

Crowdfunding

众筹

Crowdfunding involves funding a venture by raising finance from a large number of people (the crowd) and is very often achieved over the internet. Crowdfunding has grown rapidly and in 2013 it has been estimated that over US$5bn was raised worldwide through crowdfunding.There are now in excess of 500 crowdfunding platforms on the internet and over400 crowdfunding campaigns are launched every day.

众筹是指通过许多许多人民群众募集一个资金池，而且通过众筹是在网络上完成的。众筹在2013年发展的非常快，而且预计全时间已经募集了超过5百亿的美元。现在互联网上有超过500个众筹平台，每天有400多个众筹的项目发起。

The internet platforms are set up and run by moderating organisations who bring together the project initiator with the idea, and those organisations and individuals who are willing to support the idea. Different platforms have different policies with regard to assessing the ideas seeking support and checking those willing to provide the finance. Hence,great care is needed when using these platforms.

网络平台是由一个把有想法的想法发起人和那些愿意支持这一想法的组织和个人联合到一起的组织建立并运营的。不同的平台有不同的评估想法的政策，有不同的审核方法。所以，使用这些平台时需要多加关注。

Finance provided by crowdfunding may be invested in the debt or the equity of the ventures seeking the finance. Some crowdfunding is done on a ‘keep it all’ basis where any funds raised are kept by the recipient, where as some is done on an ‘all or nothing basis’ where there cipient only receives the funds if the total required to fund the particular project is raised within a given time frame. The crowdfunding platform takes a fee, which is often a percentage of the amount raised.

众筹提供的资金很可能被投资到需要这些资金的公司的债券或股本里面，一些众筹坚持保持一切的基础，超级稻的资金都由接收者保管，然后有的众筹是采取要么全部要么没有的基础，接收者只有在特定项目募集的时间框架内募集到足够的资金才可以接受。众筹平台可能会收取一定的费用，一般是募集资金的1%。

A feature of crowdfunding is that it lets people search for and invest in ideas and projects that they have an interestor a belief in. Hence, these investors are sometimes willing to take bigger risks and/or accept lower returns than would be usual. A further feature isthat, just as in a real crowd, there is potential for interaction within thecrowd. Hence, keen supporters of a particular idea will very often encourage others to participate.

众筹的一个特点是它能够让人们需找并投资一个他们真正感兴趣的或信任的想法或项目。所以，这些投资者愿意接受更高的风险和比普通投资更小的回报、另外一个特点是，在这样一群人中，很可能有又新的互动。所以，某一个项目的热情的投资者经常也会鼓励其他人参与其中进行投资。

Early crowdfunding campaigns very often focused on the arts such as funding for bands and films. However, all sorts of ideas have now been funded in this way and there has been much focus on innovation and new technology.

Crowdfunding has the potential to be very beneficial to SMEs. It allows them to contact and appeal directly to investors,who may be willing to take the risk involved in funding the new technologiesand innovations, which SMEs are often so good at producing.

早起的众筹项目通过是为了艺术，例如给乐队和电影筹资，然后，现在所有的想法都可以通过这种方式募集资金，而且现在也有利于关注创新和新技术。

众筹可能对中小企业非常有利。它使张小企业可以直接的和投资者取得联系并发出呼吁，那些投资者常愿意接受投资给新技术和创新的风险，而这正好是中小企业所擅长的。

WHY AND HOW DO GOVERNMENTS HELP FINANCE SMES?

政府为何以及要如何帮助中小企业融资？

Governments are often keen to assist as tothe extent that SMEs are unable to raise finance for their profitable projects,investment opportunities are potentially lost and, hence, national wealth is lower than it could be. Additionally, governments are keen to support innovation, which is one area where SMEs often excel, and are keen to support the growth of SMEs as this boosts employment.

政府热心帮助中小企业，那些有盈利项目而不能募集到足够资金而可能错过投资机会的中小企业，他们可能国民收入比可能的低。另外，政府热衷于支持创新，热衷于支持中小企业的发展因为它们可以激励就业。

A number of key ways governments assist include the following:

• Providing grants.

• Providing tax breaks – for instance, tax incentives may be available to those willing to take the risk of investing in SMEs.

• Providing advice – for instance, in Scotland there is a government-funded organisation known as ‘Business Gateway’, which provides assistance to those setting up and running a business, including advice on raising finance.

• Guaranteeing loans – for instance, for a small fee from theSME, a large proportion of any loan advanced by a bank is guaranteed by the government. As this significantly reduces the risk to the bank, they are potentially more willing to lend. In the UK this is currently called the‘Enterprise Finance Guarantee’ scheme.

• Providing equity investment – many countries have government-backed venture capital organisations that are willing to invest in the equity of SMEs. This is often done on a matching basis, where the organisation will match any equity investment raised from other sources. In the UK this is done through ‘Enterprise Capital Funds’, while in the US there is the ‘Small Business Investment Company’ programme.

许多政府扶持的方法包括以下这些：

提供政府补助

提供税收优惠，例如，愿意投资给中小企业的人可以得到一定的税收奖励

提供建议，在Scotland, 有一个“商业入口”的政府出资的工资，就是为想建立运营公司的人提供帮助，包括融资方面的建议。

担保贷款，例如，中小企业只需要付一点费用，银行贷款的一大部分就可以由政府出面担保。因为这极大的减小了银行的风险，银行一般也很愿意借贷。在英国，现在就有一个公司融资担保的计划。

提供权益投资。许多国家都有政府支持的风投组织，他们是愿意投资中小企业的股本的。这需要基于一个匹配基础，那个组织可以匹配很多从其他来源得到的股本投资。在英国，这通过一个“企业资本融资“，美国也有一个”小企业投资公司“项目。

CONCLUSION

结论

This article has hopefully raised your awareness of the issues that SMEs face with regard to raising finance, and how as accountants and advisers we can assist them in their search for finance.

这篇文章旨在提高你关于中小企业融资问题的意识以及作为会计和建议者我们如何帮助中小企业找到融资。

William Parrott, freelance FM tutor andsenior FM tutor, MAT Uganda

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