Small business failures up 48 per cent
According to Dun & Bradstreet CEO, Christine Christian, Australian business failures have trended steadily upwards since 2008, growing over 30 per cent in the last three years.
"There is an increasing risk that the global economic slowdown will intensify the upward trend in insolvencies," Ms Christian said.
"Despite recent rate cuts, there is a palpable lack of confidence in the current operating environment. This is obviously one of the side effects of long standing global uncertainty and can often be enough to deter businesses from entering the market, irrespective of actual conditions."
Key findings of the D&B Business Failures and Start-ups Analysis for the December quarter 2011:
- Nationwide, insolvencies rose 42 per cent year-on-year while the number of new businesses fell 11 per cent over the same period;
- Small business failures grew 57 per cent over the year among firms with less than five employees and 40 per cent over the year among firms with six to 19 employees;
- Small business start-ups among firms with less than five employees fell 95 per cent in the year;
- Failures were most pronounced within the service (up 58%), finance (up 58%) and construction (up 66%) sectors; and
- Start-ups during the December quarter in the manufacturing, service and finance sectors fell by nearly 100 per cent.
Read more
