The past three years have presented Australia’s small business owners with a perfect storm of challenges – fires, floods, lockdowns, supply chain issues, rising inflation and soaring interest rates.
Yet, 80% of Australian small business owners feel “confident”, “optimistic” and “cautiously hopeful” about their company’s prospective performance for the year ahead, according to new research conducted by Intuit QuickBooks.
“Australian small business owners have been incredibly resilient over the past three years, and our research shows that these turbulent times have not shaken their spirit. It is encouraging to see there is a sense of hope for business growth in 2023 from the experienced entrepreneurs to those just starting out,” said Lars Leber, Vice President of Intuit QuickBooks Australia.
In fact, the Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows more than 305,000 businesses stopped trading in the last financial year, but more than 472,000 opened their doors for the first time. That’s a net increase of 7%.
In terms of business growth, the commissioned research found that 25% of Australian small businesses experiencing consistent year-on-year growth across 2020-2022, while 45% saw slow but steady growth and 5% experienced soaring profits.
“Small business owners have always been the backbone of Australia’s economy. This will not change in 2023 as they look to employ more staff, ultimately helping to improve economic prosperity,” Leber said.
The remaining 25% of entrepreneurs who struggled to turn a profit during the challenging period reported a split outlook on 2023 while 23% of this group feel concerned and 21% uncertain, more than half (56%) have entered 2023 with an optimistic outlook.
