Finding the right kind of funding remains the biggest barrier to starting and growing a business, a new survey by accountants at EY shows.

The survey of 226 entrepreneurs revealed that half thought it was the main thing stopping people setting up a new business and growing it.

Fear of failure was seen as the second biggest block on people starting up.

In bad news for mainstream sources of finance, just one-in-five respondents said they would turn to a bank for funding, while 27% said they would rather use retained profits.

Stuart Watson, EY’s entrepreneur of the year UK leader, said: “Matching funding to business growth plans remains a key area of concern for ambitious entrepreneurs, not least as rapid growth tends to absorb cash.

“Entrepreneurial business leaders that develop strong controls over cash and cash forecasting as they grow find this enables them to plan early for fund raising and helps to attract investors.”