Necessity has been described as the mother of invention but it can also be the maker of fortunes. Judy Niner, founder and chief executive of the MondaytoFriday.com rent-a-room website, hit upon her business idea back in the late Nineties when her job as marketing director of the Science Museum in Kensington meant she needed a home from home in the week in London while renting out her place on the same basis in Oxford.

Almost exactly a year ago today, George Osborne arrived at the Federation of Small Businesses annual dinner with an inspiring message. "I know that with the energy, creativity, innovation and courage of Britain's small businesses we can take on the forces of stagnation and win," the Chancellor of the Exchequer told his audience, inviting small and medium-sized enterprises to take the lead in driving economic recovery.

He may have come to fame in the Dragons' Den, but James Caan has been a businessman for more than three decades - and he knows all about the challenges business owners face on a daily basis.

For many SMEs, Capital Allowances will already be familiar as a way of claiming tax relief on items used by the business, such as cars and computers. However, what most don’t realise is that the list of claimable items stretches far beyond this to unexpected and often unusual things. Businesses that understand the legislation regularly claim on items such as toilets, radiators, mirrors, air vents, and even statues. One person even tried to claim on a horse, although that is an extreme example.

Small Talk: With SMEs nervous about their prospects they may not want to add debt to their balance sheets

Small Talk: Britain's small and medium-sized enterprises have much to worry about as the European sovereign debt crisis spirals out of control once more. When the banks shut up shop again in a full-blown repeat of the first credit crunch – as they surely will if Greece walks – you can bet it will be SMEs that are starved of debt first, whatever financiers say in public.

Small Talk: Are interest-rate swaps going to be the next major banking scandal? All the high street banks, already battling claims that their refusal to lend to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is jeopardising the country's economic recovery, stand accused of mis-selling complex derivative products to firms worried about their borrowing costs.

Government figures published this week suggest ministers’ decision to delay the introduction of pension reforms for the smallest businesses has saved them as much as £2.8bn. But don’t be complacent: the reprieve is for a maximum of one year only and small and medium-sized enterprises that don’t start planning now for the reforms could find themselves caught out.

Ask James Caan: What are your thoughts on last week’s Budget from an entrepreneur’s perspective?

The cost of restoring country houses and other listed buildings will rocket under new rules in yesterday’s Budget.

Nails have been banged into the coffin for years and yesterday’s budget could be the final burial for the company car.