The SME community is divided when it comes to confidence in the Turnbull Government to address the relevant issues, according to research from a mid-tier accounting and advisory firm.
Bentleys Chartered Accountants undertook a poll of 328 SMEs from across Australia and found that 45% have either low or very low expectations of the Turnbull Government, since taking a slim majority at the last election. By comparison, only 16% had high or very high expectations. In addition, more than a quarter (26%) believed the proposed measures announced by the coalition at the Federal Budget in May will have a negative impact on their business if implemented.
James Hyett, Partner, Business Services at McLean Delmo Bentleys – the Victorian office of Bentleys – told Dynamic Business that the low levels of faith in the Coalition, amongst SMEs, were driven by a range of factors including a lack of confidence in the government to achieve action in any area due to the close election result and the lack of senate majority plus a perception that the government is more concerned with the interests of big businesses
In addition, Hyett highlighted two responses from the survey to the question “what are you expecting to see in the first 100 days of the Turnbull Government with respect to actions impacting the SME business community?”
One: “Would like to see stable government with positive ideas to help the economy and without dramas that cause the general public to feel unsure of the economy and tighten their spending. We always see a downturn in trade leading up to an election due to the public feeling uncertain and unwilling to commit to spending.”
Two: “I’m afraid not much. The lack of a Senate majority is going to be a significant issue in terms of moving forwards.”
Hyett noted that the survey did not gather data to provide a comparison with the sentiment, amongst SMEs, towards Labor.