More than 140,000 UK businesses experienced significant financial difficulties in the last quarter of 2009 and while business failures for the start of 2010 show a downward trend many firms are still making basic mistakes, claims business improvement specialists Aspire Management Services.

“The experts are divided over whether the number of insolvencies have peaked yet,” said Gordon Mowat CA, Managing Director of Aspire.

“There are some who believe that with tax and interest rates certain to rise along with increased pressure on consumer spending we are in for a rough ride. However, the latest research from Equifax appears to show that the pace of the economic downturn is slowing.

“Whatever the real picture is we will have to ride it out but many firms continue to make basic mistakes in how they run their business which unfortunately will contribute to more failures.”

The latest Equifax figures revealed an overall 9.2 per cent decrease in businesses going under in the first month of 2010 compared to the last month of 2009.

Scotland showed the greatest improvement with a 53.9 per cent decline in failures, followed by London with a 19 per cent drop in businesses going under in January.

“While these figures show some optimism and should be good news for general business confidence the UK economy is not out of the woods yet,” said Mr Mowat.

“Businesses that have survived so far must continue to be very careful about how continue to perform.

“There are numerous key mistakes that business owners make, particularly those of small companies and startups. “Often new firms fail to delegate as owners try to do too much themselves or take on more business than they can handle,” said Mr Mowat.

“Just having somebody else to bounce ideas off, get a second opinion in how to recruit the right people and take an outside look at the strengths and weaknesses of a firm can make a major difference.”