Being a business owner in 2025 means wearing many hats – and economic uncertainty is stretching UK entrepreneurs’ time & money.
New research from NerdWallet UK, based on a survey of 500 UK business owners, reveals how UK business owners are growing their organisations – and shows how precious leadership time is being divided across AI, sales, administration, HR, finance, and strategy tasks.
Key findings
- The average UK business owner is spending almost one working day per week (6.9 hours) on AI and automating tasks
- UK business owners are spending the most time on sales (7.6 hours per week), and the least time on strategy and planning (6.8 hours per week)
- Time spent on admin and operational tasks is costing business owners almost £19,000 per year
- Women business owners are better at streamlining leadership time, spending almost 5 fewer hours weekly on operational tasks than men
- One-third (33%) of business owners are still managing their finances manually via spreadsheets or pen and paper
- Over a quarter (27%) of business owners do all of their accounting themselves, without any support from accountants
- A quarter (25%) of business owners are using AI for financial forecasting
UK Business Owners Spending Nearly 7 Hours a Week on AI and Automation Tasks
| Weekly Time Spent on AI Tasks | Percentage of UK Business Owners (%) |
| Less than 1 hour | 15% |
| 1–5 hours | 27% |
| 6–10 hours | 20% |
| 11–15 hours | 8% |
| 16–20 hours | 4% |
| 21–30 hours | 3% |
| 30+ hours | 1% |
| N/A – I don’t do this task | 22% |
| Average | 6.9 hours |
From setting up AI tools to learning how to apply AI insights to decision-making, our survey reveals UK business owners are now dedicating an average of 6.9 hours per week to AI and automation tasks.
The largest proportion (27%) of business owners spend 1 to 5 hours per week on AI tasks, while a further 20% are committing 6 to 10 hours per week, showing a trend towards more businesses actively adopting AI.
Business owners aged 25 to 34 are leading the charge in AI adoption, spending an average of 8.2 hours per week on these tasks – well above the overall average.
At the lower end, 15% of business leaders are spending less than an hour per week on AI tasks, and 22% say they don’t engage with AI at all.
UK business owners stuck in firefighting mode: Spending the most time on sales and the least on strategy
| Rank | Operation task type (UK business owners) | Average weekly time (hours) | Average annual no. of workdays | Percentage of total business owner time (%) | Average cost to business owner salary (£) |
| 1 | Sales and customer outreach | 7.6 | 51 | 22% | £19,644 |
| 2 | Admin and operational tasks | 7.3 | 48 | 21% | £18,663 |
| 3 | HR and team coordination | 7.3 | 48 | 21% | £18,764 |
| 4 | Finance management tasks | 7.0 | 46 | 20% | £17,917 |
| 5 | AI and automation setup/management | 6.9 | 46 | 19% | £17,688 |
| 6 | Business strategy and planning | 6.8 | 45 | 19% | £17,490 |
The survey reveals that UK business owners are spending more time working on sales than developing strategy or planning for growth.
On average, business leaders spend over six hours a week on major operational tasks, with the largest share – 7.6 hours (22% of average business owner time) – going to sales and customer outreach, costing an estimated £19,644 annually based on average business owner earnings.
Admin and operational tasks, as well as HR and team coordination, follow closely behind. Both take up 7.3 hours per week, or 21% of total leadership time, costing the average business almost £19,000 per year respectively.
At the bottom of the list is business strategy and planning, with leaders spending just 6.8 hours per week, or 19% of their time, translating to £17,490 per year – the lowest time and cost allocation of any task category.
It’s clear that many business leaders are feeling caught up in the now – prioritising short-term sales revenue, over carving out more time for long-term planning.
Women business owners save 5 hours a week on leadership tasks compared to men
| Rank | Task type (UK business owners) | Men: Average weekly hours | Women: Average weekly hours | Extra days per year (Men) |
| 1 | Finance management tasks | 7.5 | 6.2 | 9 |
| 2 | AI and automation setup/management | 7.3 | 6.2 | 7 |
| 3 | Business strategy and planning | 7.2 | 6.2 | 7 |
| 4 | Sales and customer outreach | 7.9 | 7.1 | 5 |
| 5 | Admin and operational tasks | 7.5 | 6.9 | 4 |
| 6 | HR and team coordination | 7.3 | 7.4 | -1 |
| Average time spent | 44.7 hours | 40.0 hours | 31 days | |
The survey reveals women business owners are better at streamlining leadership time spent on operational tasks including administration, finance, AI, and strategy – with male business leaders spending 4.7 hours per week more on these tasks than women leaders.
The most striking gap appears in finance management, where men are spending 1.3 hours more per week than women – the equivalent of 9 extra working days per year.
For admin and operational tasks, men are dedicating noticeably more time than women at 4 extra working days per year.
While women reported working 15% fewer hours overall than men, according to our survey, these results show they are still using their leadership time more efficiently. The only task women leaders spend more time on than men is on HR and team coordination tasks – signalling that women CEOs are more team-oriented leaders.
One in three business leaders still manage finances manually with spreadsheets or pen and paper
| Rank | Methods used by business owners to manage finances | Percentage of business owners using this method (%) |
| 1 | I use accounting software or services like QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, or FreshBooks | 36% |
| 2 | I manage my finances manually using spreadsheets or pen and paper | 33% |
| 3 | I work with a financial advisor to support financial planning and decisions | 31% |
| 4 | I pay an accountant to manage almost all of my business finances | 31% |
| 5 | I handle most accounting tasks but hire an accountant for tax returns | 29% |
| 6 | I do all of the accounting myself | 27% |
| 7 | I employ an internal finance officer to manage business finances | 26% |
| 8 | I use AI tools for financial forecasting or analysis | 25% |
| 9 | I employ a bookkeeper to help with day-to-day financial tasks | 22% |
| 10 | I handle most accounting tasks but get some help from friends or family | 21% |
The survey reveals how UK business owners are managing their finances in 2025. While the results reveal that using accounting software (like QuickBooks, Xero, or FreshBooks) is the most popular choice (used by 36%), surprisingly, one in three (33%) business owners still rely on manual spreadsheets or pen and paper to manage their business finances.
While 31% work with a financial advisor to support financial planning and decisions, 27% of business owners are managing their finances all by themselves, without support from any accountants.
The use of artificial intelligence is also gaining ground. A quarter (25% of business owners) are using AI for financial forecasting – while 21% of business owners are relying on informal help from friends or family for managing their finances.
Despite growing use of digital accounting tools, many UK business owners are still managing their finances alone – and in many cases, with outdated manual methods.
Amy Knight, business commentator at NerdWallet UK, says:
“Business owners are spending thousands each year on financial admin, representing a major opportunity to streamline, delegate, or automate with digital technology and AI and reinvest that time into higher-value work.
As the deadlines to comply with Making Tax Digital approach, the need for small business owners to link their business bank account with HMRC-approved software is becoming increasingly urgent.
Managing business finances is sapping British companies of hours of productive time. If you’re spending 10 hours a week on invoicing or reconciling expenses, that’s 10 hours not spent on higher-value work, like driving sales, diversifying your products or pitching for funding.
The cumulative effect of this across the UK business population is having a detrimental impact on productivity and business growth.”
Financial management tips for time-poor UK business owners
- Use tech to lighten the load
“Manual bookkeeping and accounting is less efficient than using intuitive accounting software that connects to a business bank account.
Choosing the right accounting software can make it quicker and easier to get paid and stay on top of your taxes, giving you back precious time to think strategically about your next steps. Many accounting software platforms allow business owners to access tools such as cash flow forecasts on a mobile app, making reviewing your financial data a five-minute job.”
- Know when to outsource
“There’s a tipping point where outsourcing admin makes more financial sense than doing it yourself.
Think about what your time is worth as an hourly rate and where you can have the biggest impact on your business. If you could replace the hours you spent on admin with time spent on revenue-generating activities, it might be worth recruiting a part-time administrator.”
- Don’t wait for a ‘strategy day’
“Carving out a whole day to work on strategy might not be realistic if you’re needed at the coalface. Instead, try nibbling away at your strategy and sales plan in 15-minute chunks. Taking a ‘little and often’ approach to checking your margins and researching new opportunities can help you make meaningful progress towards your goals. Just 15 minutes per day, five days per week, adds up to five hours of strategy time per month, which could transform the trajectory of your business.”
Methodology
This survey was conducted online in the UK by OnePoll on behalf of NerdWallet UK in June 2025 to 500 owners and decision-makers of small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs), aged 18 and older.
Disclaimer
NerdWallet disclaims, expressly and impliedly, all warranties of any kind, including those of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose or whether the article’s information is accurate, reliable or free of errors. Use or reliance on this information is at your own risk, and its completeness and accuracy are not guaranteed. The contents in this article should not be relied upon or associated with the future performance of NerdWallet or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties as indicated by words such as “believes,” “expects,” “estimates,” “may,” “will,” “should” or “anticipates” or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements may materially differ from NerdWallet’s presentation of information to analysts and its actual operational and financial results.
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