At the start of February, the business network Chambers Ireland launched its Manifesto for Europe, a policy paper outlining its take on the priorities of Irish businesses ahead of EU elections later this year.
Amidst the calls for a Europe-wide strategy for climate sustainability and energy resilience, more investment in cities and regions, delivery of the Single Market and action to tackle skills gaps in labour markets, the Chamber had one other strong message to would-be Irish representatives in the EU Parliament.
Small businesses, it argues, are becoming increasingly “entangled in regulations” passed down from Brussels. With SMEs having to cope with the ongoing fall out from COVID, the war in Ukraine, Brexit, high global inflation, volatile markets and disruption to supply chains, the Chamber wants to see a renewed focus on “effective policies” and “actions that deliver tangible results” over red tape.
It’s certainly true that, in areas like privacy, digital security and of course sustainability, the past five years have seen a rush of new regulations introduced. The Chamber is quite right in highlighting that regulation should always be stringently thought out to ensure it delivers more than just “marginal benefits”, as it puts it, which may not seem worth the cost of compliance.
However, when it comes to major policy goals like net zero, which require significant economic, political and structural interventions, the truth is that there is always going to be a cost. And on the basis that regulation tends to aim at curbing or changing behaviour, it’s inevitably a cost that gets shared around.
But keeping up with a compliance landscape in transition can certainly load additional unwanted stress on businesses. Here’s how to keep yourself untangled.
Make it a priority
It sounds simple and maybe a little glib. But the starting point for managing the compliance workload better is to treat it as a priority for your business. And whether you like it or not, it should be a priority. Compliance breaches can be very costly and damaging.
Understand your exposure to risk
There’s nothing wrong with approaching compliance from the perspective of self-preservation. Yes, there’s a whole PR question about ‘walking the walk’ which we won’t go into now. But if you start from the standpoint of not wanting to risk getting hit with heavy fines, you end up in the right place anyway.
The whole compliance landscape can be complex and confusing. Stripping it back to how it affects your business, what the risks are and what you can do to avoid them goes a long way to simplifying things.
Go digital
As with most things these days, tech and AI in particular can be your knight in shining armour when it comes to compliance. Particularly in the field of digital and data compliance, the market is already awash with SME-friendly SaaS tools. Most financial and accounting software will also go a long way towards simplifying/automating things like tax compliance.
Ask the experts
Finally, don’t think you have to go it alone on compliance. As we say, the regulatory landscape is complex and fluctuating. Rather than tying yourself in knots trying to understand it, save yourself time, effort and money by seeking compliance advice from a qualified business advisor.
