Top 3 insights from Australia’s small businesses in July 2024

Published on September 3, 2024

Survey shows concerns about costs and cash flow but more revenue from e-commerce

Every three months, Intuit QuickBooks commissions surveys of more than 5,000 small businesses around the world. Here are the top three insights from more than 700 small businesses surveyed in Australia in July 2024:

51% reported cash flow problems in July 2024—up from 45% in April 2023.
21% said cash flow is worse than a year ago, in July 2023.
51% have invoices that are overdue by 30 days or more, and the total amount reportedly owed to each business is $30,000 on average (up from $23,000 in April 2024).

2. Inflation remains the number-one challenge

47% say rising costs are the single biggest challenge they currently face, which is a slight increase on the number reporting this in April 2023.
50% said operating costs went up in the three months to July 2024, while 36% said costs were unchanged, and just 10% said costs were down.
A similar proportion, 46%, predict their costs will increase over the next three months, while just 7% predict lower costs.

3. More small businesses are leaning into e-commerce

21% reported that they generate 100% of their revenue from e-commerce, while another 43% generate at least half of their revenue online.
For comparison, just 11% generated 100% of their revenue from e-commerce before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
30% predict their online sales will grow over the next 3 months—up from 25% who said the same in April 2024—while just 7% predict a decline in online sales.

Small Business Data

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