Over 60% of small and medium-sized businesses are deemed to be above normal credit risk in terms of defaulting on trade payments or getting into financial difficulties, according to data released by Graydon UK, a commercial credit agency.

This equates to over two million UK firms being adjudged to be at an increased risk of falling into financial difficulty over the next year. According to Graydon UK, this issue is just one of the consequences of a long-term degradation of the information available on businesses at Companies House.

The government, in an attempt to reduce the administrative burden placed upon businesses, have changed legal obligations on Limited companies to file audited full accounts each year.

"Whatever the truth of the claims by the banks that they are continuing to lend to small firms, the fact remains that for many companies, access to finance remains a real obstacle to ensuring a sustained recovery," said Martin Williams, Graydon UK Managing Director.

"In an era of easy credit, the truth was that no one really noticed or cared much about the declining value of available information on businesses at Companies House caused by the introduction of audit thresholds and redefinitions of small, medium and large companies and their respective filing requirements."