A recent SME survey commissioned by WHK found that the carbon issue continues to polarise opinion with 57.4% of SME’s expecting the carbon tax to decrease their business’s profit.
WHK Group CEO & Managing Director, John Lombard, stated, “Perhaps the greatest fear we are hearing from clients around the carbon tax is uncertainty around costs. With cashflow sitting at the top of the surveyed SME’s worry list, concerns about rising on costs and managing margins are top of mind when it comes to the carbon tax. I
“It will take a complete financial year for business advisers to gauge how SMEs are coping with the new tax and what it does to ongoing costs. Whether much of the “carbon concern” was ill founded is irrelevant. Businesses that operate in a global marketplace now have another tax on top of a strong Australian dollar and poor consumer confidence. While there are relief packages available, again for SME’s this can mean more red tape.”
Given all of these concerns, the resilience of the SME sector still shines through.
Lombard continued, “It’s pleasing to see high %s around hiring intentions across Australia. Intention to hire is a great confidence measure because it is practical and shows that business expects a profitable outcome from having more staff.”
Lombard concluded with a quote from an actual survey respondent that demonstrated the opportunities ahead in the sector:
I think the re-invention of traditional industries by the technology sector is an extremely powerful one. There are many smart people looking at old business models and asking themselves a simple question – can I use technology to help make this business more efficient, more effective and so forth.
4 July 2012
