A new government pension schemes plan may cause small businesses to suffer, according to the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA).
Under new proposals, from 2012 eight per cent of an employee's salary would go into a pension scheme.
According to the Financial Times, pension contributions among small firms are below five per cent, with 55 per cent of companies saying they would "fall short of the personal accounts exemption test".
The ACA fears the new reforms could see the closure of a number of pension schemes.
Keith Barton, chairman of the ACA, told the newspaper there are "huge challenges" facing small businesses.
"It is very clear that there is a huge under-pensioning of millions of employees, but our survey suggests the benchmark set by the government may weigh heavily on smaller firms, particularly if economic conditions are not good at the time auto-enrolment and personal accounts are launched," he added.
In other news which affects businesses, the KPMG Global Corporate and Indirect Tax Rate survey 2008 found that UK corporate tax levels are higher than the world average, at 28 per cent compared to 25.9 per cent.
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