Catch up on the big issues with our weekly Small Business Bites. We cut through the noise to dig out the week’s stories which really matter to small business owners.

This week continued to be dominated by the fallout from the UK’s ‘Brexit’ vote, and what the result could mean for British business. But while politicians on all sides continue to take stock of the result, business goes on – and there’s been plenty happening both Brexit and non-Brexit related over the past five days.

Monday

The Federation of Small Businesses released its Confidence Index, showing that while credit conditions are continuing to improve for firms generally, small businesses are reportedly reducing headcount and costs are going up on account of the National Living Wage and auto-enrolment. Overall, confidence was shown to have fallen in every part of the UK – Do you agree with this? Tell us your experience.

Tuesday

A report released by the Bank of England announced that risks posed by the Brexit vote had “begun to crystallise”, particularly around the banks willingness to lend. Governor Mark Carney was upbeat, despite the assertion in the bank’s six monthly Financial Stability Report that “the current outlook for UK financial stability is challenging”. He insisted that measures taken by the Bank before the vote were paying off now, with £150bn of extra capital freed up to keep banks lending to businesses (see full report here).

Away from Brexit, a report by the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) found that what small business owners lacked in knowledge when starting up a business, they more than made up for in confidence (read full story).

Wednesday

Small businesses remain optimistic about their economic future, according to a story covered on Wednesday bysmallbusiness.co.uk. Three quarters of the 450 firms asked said Britain was still a great place to do business, with just 41% saying they had delayed business investment during the campaign period.

In more good news, Sage launched its Walk With Me report, revealing the motivations of the next generation of entrepreneurs. The findings, taken from a survey of 7,400 18-34 year olds, showed that two thirds have sacrificed profit to be true to their personal values and ethics at some point (see the infographic below or read the full report here).

And while the ambition of many small businesses might be to grow to the size worthy of listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), but if reports on Wednesday prove true then the Exchange itself might soon become headquartered in Germany post-Brexit. According to Deutsche Boerse, the group in talks to merge with the LSE, the merged company will have a future headquarters inside the EU, meaning that either London loses or has to share its headquarter status.

Thursday

The Tory leadership election entered its final phase on Thursday with the news that the UK would have its first female Prime Minister in more than a quarter of a century. The two remaining candidates, Teresa May and Andrea Leadsom, present two different possible futures for their party, and in turn the country (see the BBC’s great head-to-head guide).

Meanwhile, PayPal announced that its Working Capital programme has supported more than 14,000 small businesses with cash advances totalling £185m since it launched in November 2014 (see original story here for more details).

Friday

Finally, consumer confidence is reported to have suffered its biggest fall in 21 years in the wake of the referendum. According to GfK, the company behind the Consumer Confidence Barometer (CCB), the survey of 2000+ people carried out last week has shown the largest single drop in confidence since 1994 (read the original release here). That adds to the warning from the MD of John Lewis, Andy Street, that the fall in Stirling could push up prices over the coming months.

Aside from that, HMRC has announced today that it’s clawed back £540m in unpaid taxes from the UK’s small businesses. This interactive map shows you where the taxman’s been targeting most, carrying out “intense bursts of activity” in specific areas to catch those companies in the wrong.

In other news

Can your smartphone really handle all of your finances? (BBC, 5/7/16)