Business owners are much more stressed than they were a year ago, a new report shows.

World-wide research, by financial advisors Grant Thornton, shows that due to factors such as increasing red tape and poor cash flow, more businesses than ever before are feeling the strain.

UK bosses in particular are prone to stress, with 33 per cent admitting that stress levels had increased significantly or within the last year.

The most common reasons cited for the increase were regulations and red tape, 37 per cent, demanding consumer expectations, 31 per cent, work/life balance, 30 per cent, and profit margins, 26 per cent.

Running a business proved a significant source of stress for respondents in the North and Scotland. 47 per cent of Scottish respondents and 42 per cent in the North East, North East and North West were most affected by stress.

Jim Rogers, head of growth and strategic services at Grant Thornton, said: “The issues that provoke the most stress are clearly ones that are not going to go away in the short term.

“Employers also have an important duty to their staff to ensure that the mechanisms are in place to spot stress in the with workplace and provide the necessary support to their employees.”

The study also reveals that owners can get just as stressed when business is booming. Grant Thornton claim that ‘high growth, high stress increase’ firms are created by their lack of ability to keep up with fast emerging economies, most notably in countries such as India.

53 per cent of owners in this category feel increased competition contributed to their stress levels and 48 per cent were stressed by increased customer expectations.

Top of the stress table are business owners in Taiwan, with 69 per cent of respondents claiming their stress levels had rose dramatically in 2004.

Rogers said: “Wherever you’re doing business in the world, you are felling the strain much more this year. Business is a big factor in how stressed people feel.

“If we scratch beneath the surface, business owners can feel stressed by success as much as by failures.”

Least affected by the symptoms of stress were owners in Sweden, as only 23 per cent cited a notably stressful year.