Information Required

You will need to provide about 30 items of information describing your business so that Firmrater can calculate the ratings contained in your Performance Report. We provide a detailed Data Collection Guide which explains how to find each piece of information and also contains space for you to note down your firm’s details ready for entry into the system. In addition, we provide a sample completed Data Collection Guide for reference. Note that all figures must exclude VAT.

You will need to provide information in the following categories:

Name and address of your firm;
Business entity type, e.g. sole trader, limited company, partnership;
When your firm started trading;
Your opinion about its growth and business optimism;
Days and hours per week that your business is open;
Your primary business activity and up to 4 additional (optional) activities;
Headline financial information such as turnover, total costs and capital employed etc;
Whether or not you have a website and generate sales online;
Your normal payment terms and whether or not you use invoice factoring;
Staff number, total payroll cost, normal annual leave;
Type, size and cost of your premises.

Click here to download the Data Collection Guide
Click here to download the sample completed Data Collection Guide
Click here to download the Business Activities Guide
Click here to download the full list of business activities (SIC-2007)

The full list of business information required is:

Business name and address;
Primary business activity and up to 4 additional (optional) activities;
Your business optimism outlook;
Your business growth outlook;
Business entity type;
Month and year the business started trading;
Which days the business is open during the week;
Number of hours the business is open per week;
Most recent 12 month turnover;
Most recent 12 month net profit (before tax and owners’ income);
Typical sale value of stock (if applicable);
Capital employed;
Current liabilities;
Most recent 12 month total owners’ income;
Long-term loans;
Typical value of accounts receivable;
Average cash available;
Typical annual promotional expenditure;
Website type (information / sales);
Approximate turnover via website (if applicable);
Use of invoice factoring;
Normal sales payment terms (days);
Total staff excluding owners;
Number of owners involved in the business;
Most recent 12 month payroll cost excluding owners’ income;
Standard annual leave per head;
Tenure of premises (e.g. owned, serviced or leased etc);
Total floor area of premises;
Rent per square foot (only if leased);
Most recent 12 month total premises cost.

Ideally the most recent 12 month rolling figures should be used and then updated monthly or quarterly if possible. However, it is acceptable to use the most recent annual management accounts if more up to date information is not available.