SMALL and medium sized enterprises in the UK regard local councils as the least open organisations they deal with while only around half expect the Westminster Government to legislate in firms’ best interests, research has found. In a survey of 400 directors of SMEs for AXA insurance only 59 per cent of respondents said their local council was transparent in its dealings with them. By contrast accountants and lawyers were deemed transparent by 90 and 84 per cent of respondents respectively. Banks and insurance firms won approval from around three quarters of respondents. Only 52 per cent trusted the Government to introduce helpful legislation. Amanda Blanc, chief executive of AXA’s commercial business, said: “Our research makes it clear that there are significant trust and transparency issues between SMEs and the institutions they deal with.”
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