Credit: dreamstime_7499370
Australian small to medium businesses are happy with the federal government’s efforts in 2015 for the most part according to the MYOB Business Monitor.
The bi-annual report shows SME dissatisfaction with government is at an all-time low of 26 per cent, down from 33 per cent in the March 2015 report.
MYOB chief strategy officer, John Moss, described the results as more good news for the Turnbull Government currently enjoying high opinion polls.
“The earlier Federal Budget package for small business has been received well and SMEs are looking for further measures to make doing business easier,” he added.
This is the sixth year the accounting software company has run its survey of 1000 SME business owners and the results show that while dissatisfaction has dropped, the SME community still wants more from state and federal governments.
“State governments can also take heart that SMEs generally are feeling happier with their work, with dissatisfaction levels having fallen to 30 per cent across the board,” said Moss.
“There was however a marked difference between the Queensland Government, which remains relatively high at 41 per cent dissatisfied and the NSW Government, which is much lower at 20 per cent.”
MYOB pointed to the $20,000 instant asset tax write-off announced in the Federal Budget earlier this year as one of the reasons for the decrease in dissatisfaction.
“The Business Monitor found that 25 per cent had already taken advantage of this measure,” Moss said.
“Franchisors were the frontrunners here, with 51 per cent saying they had used it, followed by exporters (50 per cent) and importers (41 per cent). One of the stated aims of the write-off is to help businesses grow, and 35 per cent of establishing business reported taking it up as against 19 per cent of established businesses.
“While two-thirds of SMEs are yet to take advantage of the incentive, it has clearly struck a chord with operators. It was Number 1 on the list of policies they would vote for. Policies that significantly simplify the GST/BAS reporting process – an ongoing pain point for many SMEs – came a very close second.
“With MYEFO just around the corner and Budget planning well underway, Governments would do well to take careful note of this list.”
The study also asked respondents to give their top ten policies or initiatives that business operators would vote for, they were:
- Keeping the $20,000 instant asset tax write-off for businesses under $2m revenue (63 per cent)
- Policies that significantly simplify the GST/BAS reporting process (62 per cent)
- Reducing the company tax rate from 30 per cent to 28.5per cent (58 per cent)
- Assigning a proportion of Government procurement contracts to small businesses (57 per cent)
- Increased Federal Government funding for skills, training and apprenticeship programs (57 per cent)
- The establishment of an incentive bonus for businesses employing people over age 50 (56 per cent)
- More Federal Government investment in transport infrastructure in our major States and cities (55 per cent)
- Increased Government funding for innovation, research and development by Australian businesses (53 per cent)
- Offering a wage subsidy for employing young Australians (51 per cent)
- Exempting FBT on the purchase of work-related portable electronic device (50 per cent)
