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Business Indicators, Business Impacts of COVID-19

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Insights into Australian business conditions and sentiments.

Reference period

October 2020

Released

22/10/2020

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Key statistics

Fewer businesses reported a revenue decrease in October (31%) compared to July (47%).
Almost three quarters (73%) of businesses had not sought additional funds over the last 6 months.
Almost one third (29%) reported that cash on hand could sustain operations for less than three months.

In responding to the survey, businesses are asked to provide a best estimate only, without accessing records or reports.

Business size categories used in this release:

Small (0-19 persons employed);
Medium (20-199 persons employed); and
Large (200 or more persons employed).

For information on survey sample, response rates and the questionnaire, see Methodology.

Revenue, expenses and employment

Businesses reported on changes in revenue, operating expenses and number of employees over the last month and expected changes over the next month.

This information has been collected each month from July 2020.

Month on month, the proportion of businesses reporting a decrease in revenue has fallen, from 47% in July to 31% in October.

In October, 7% of businesses reported a decrease in the number of employees. This compares to 13% in July.

Changes in revenue, operating expenses and employment, July and October (a)
	Decreased (%)	Stayed the same (%)	Increased (%)	Don't know (%)
Revenue
July	47	32	16	6
October	31	49	16	5

Operating expenses
July	16	59	23	3
October	8	64	24	4

Number of employees
July	13	80	6	1
October	7	85	7	1

Changes in revenue, operating expenses and employment, July and October (a)

["","Decreased","Stayed the same","Increased","Don't know"]

[["Revenue","July","October","","Operating expenses","July","October","","Number of employees","July","October"],[[null],[47],[31],[null],[null],[16],[8],[null],[null],[13],[7]],[[null],[32],[49],[null],[null],[59],[64],[null],[null],[80],[85]],[[null],[16],[16],[null],[null],[23],[24],[null],[null],[6],[7]],[[null],[6],[5],[null],[null],[3],[4],[null],[null],[1],[1]]]

[]

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(a) Proportions are of all businesses

Approximately one in five medium (22%) and large (19%) businesses reported an increase in the number of employees, compared with 6% of small businesses.

Changes in revenue, operating expenses and employment in October, by employment size (a)
	Decreased (%)	Stayed the same (%)	Increased (%)	Don't know (%)
Revenue
Small businesses	31	49	15	5
Medium businesses	29	45	22	4
Large businesses	21	49	24	6

Operating expenses
Small businesses	8	64	24	4
Medium businesses	7	66	24	2
Large businesses	13	61	23	3

Number of employees
Small businesses	7	86	6	1
Medium businesses	14	63	22	1
Large businesses	16	62	19	3

Changes in revenue, operating expenses and employment in October, by employment size (a)

["","Decreased","Stayed the same","Increased","Don't know"]

[["Revenue","Small businesses","Medium businesses","Large businesses","","Operating expenses","Small businesses","Medium businesses","Large businesses","","Number of employees","Small businesses","Medium businesses","Large businesses"],[[null],[31],[29],[21],[null],[null],[8],[7],[13],[null],[null],[7],[14],[16]],[[null],[49],[45],[49],[null],[null],[64],[66],[61],[null],[null],[86],[63],[62]],[[null],[15],[22],[24],[null],[null],[24],[24],[23],[null],[null],[6],[22],[19]],[[null],[5],[4],[6],[null],[null],[4],[2],[3],[null],[null],[1],[1],[3]]]

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(a) Proportions are of all businesses

Expectations for revenue, expenses and employment

Each month businesses are asked to report on their expectations relating to revenue, operating expenses and number of employees over the next month.

Expectations for August and November, changes in revenue, operating expenses and employment (a)
	Decrease (%)	Stay the same (%)	Increase (%)	Don't know (%)
Revenue
August expectations reported in July	27	49	11	14
November expectations reported in October	14	56	18	12

Operating expenses
August expectations reported in July	6	67	18	9
November expectations reported in October	5	69	18	9

Number of employees
August expectations reported in July	3	85	7	5
November expectations reported in October	2	85	7	6

Expectations for August and November, changes in revenue, operating expenses and employment (a)

["","Decrease","Stay the same","Increase","Don't know"]

[["Revenue","August expectations reported in July","November expectations reported in October","","Operating expenses","August expectations reported in July","November expectations reported in October","","Number of employees","August expectations reported in July","November expectations reported in October"],[[null],[27],[14],[null],[null],[6],[5],[null],[null],[3],[2]],[[null],[49],[56],[null],[null],[67],[69],[null],[null],[85],[85]],[[null],[11],[18],[null],[null],[18],[18],[null],[null],[7],[7]],[[null],[14],[12],[null],[null],[9],[9],[null],[null],[5],[6]]]

[]

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(a) Proportions are of all businesses

In comparing these monthly expectations provided between July and October, those relating to operating expenses and number of employees have remained stable. A larger proportion of businesses reported an expected increase in revenue for October and November compared to August and September.

Monthly revenue expectations, August to November (a)
	Decreased (%)	Stayed the same (%)	Increased (%)	Don't Know (%)
August expectations reported in July	27	49	11	14
September expectations reported in August	28	55	9	8
October expectations reported in September	14	61	14	11
November expectations reported in October	14	56	18	12

Monthly revenue expectations, August to November (a)

["","Decreased","Stayed the same","Increased","Don't Know"]

[["August expectations reported in July","September expectations reported in August","October expectations reported in September","November expectations reported in October"],[[27],[28],[14],[14]],[[49],[55],[61],[56]],[[11],[9],[14],[18]],[[14],[8],[11],[12]]]

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(a) Proportions are of all businesses

Cash on hand

Businesses were asked to estimate the length of time that operations could be sustained by currently available cash on hand.

Cash on hand includes savings, assets that can easily be sold, and unused credit facilities. The objective of the question is to capture businesses perception of their financial resilience based on conditions experienced at the time of collection.

In October, businesses estimated that the length of time cash on hand could sustain business operations was:

Less than 1 month (8% of all businesses)
1 to less than 3 months (21%)
3 to less than 6 months (13%)
6 months or more (38%)
Don’t know (19%)

These results were similar to those seen in June.

Funds sought by businesses

One in five of businesses (21%) reported they sought additional funds over the past six months.

By employment size, the proportion of businesses that sought additional funds were:

Small businesses (21%);
Medium businesses (27%); and
Large businesses (24%).

Businesses in Accommodation and food services were the most likely to have sought additional funds (35%), while businesses in Arts and recreation services were the least likely (7%).

Businesses that sought additional funds, by industry
	Proportion of all businesses (%)
Accommodation and Food Services	35
Education and Training	34
Transport, Postal and Warehousing	31
Health Care and Social Assistance	29
Information Media and Telecommunications	28
Construction	28
Wholesale Trade	27
Manufacturing	24
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services	20
Retail Trade	19
Mining	17
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services	14
Financial and Insurance Services	14
Administrative and Support Services	13
Other Services	13
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services	11
Arts and Recreation Services	7

Businesses that sought additional funds, by industry

["","Proportion of all businesses"]

[["Accommodation and Food Services","Education and Training","Transport, Postal and Warehousing","Health Care and Social Assistance","Information Media and Telecommunications","Construction","Wholesale Trade","Manufacturing","Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services","Retail Trade","Mining","Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services","Financial and Insurance Services","Administrative and Support Services","Other Services","Professional, Scientific and Technical Services","Arts and Recreation Services"],[[35],[34],[31],[29],[28],[28],[27],[24],[20],[19],[17],[14],[14],[13],[13],[11],[7]]]

[]

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Purpose of additional funds sought

Businesses that reported they sought additional funds also provided reasons for seeking funds. Almost three quarters (72%) of all businesses reported they sought additional funds to cover operating expenses.

Purpose of additional funds sought, by employment size (a)(b)
	Small businesses (%)	Medium businesses (%)	Large businesses (%)
Operating expenses	73	66	60
Capital expenditure	32	48	34
Other investments	3	4	16
Other purposes	19	10	25

Purpose of additional funds sought, by employment size (a)(b)

["","Small businesses","Medium businesses","Large businesses"]

[["Operating expenses","Capital expenditure","Other investments","Other purposes"],[[73],[32],[3],[19]],[[66],[48],[4],[10]],[[60],[34],[16],[25]]]

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(a) Proportions are of businesses that sought additional funds

(b) Businesses could provide more than one response

Reasons for not seeking additional funds

Almost three quarters (73%) of businesses did not seek additional funds over the past six months. These businesses reported on reasons for not seeking funds.

Businesses that had not sought additional funds, by reasons for not seeking funds (a)(b)

Image

Businesses that had not sought additional funds, by reasons for not seeking funds. The proportions were:83% had sufficient funds, 49% did not want to increase debt, 47% had no capital expenditure requirements, 45% had no other investment requirements, 13% expect to be declined, and 11% could not meet repayments

Description

This bubble graph image shows the proportions of businesses that had not sought additional funds, by reasons for not seeking funds: 83% had sufficient funds, 49% did not want to increase debt, 47% had no capital expenditure requirements, 45% had no other investment requirements, 13% expect to be declined, and 11% could not meet repayments

(a) Proportions are of businesses that had not sought additional funds

(b) Businesses could provide more than one response

Loan repayment deferrals

In October, 7% of businesses reported they were deferring loan repayments. This compares with 16% of businesses in May.

Medium businesses were almost twice as likely as small and large businesses to report they were deferring loan repayments (13% compared with 7% and 7%).

Businesses in the following industries were most likely to report they were deferring loan repayments:

Accommodation and food services (31%);
Wholesale trade (21%); and
Manufacturing (16%).

Reasons for deferring loan repayments

Businesses provided additional comments on the reasons for deferring loan repayments. The following is an image of the key themes reported by these businesses. More common responses are bigger and bolder.

Image

Additional comments on the reasons why businesses are deferring loan repayments

Description

This is a word cloud image of the key themes reported by businesses as to why they are deferring loan repayments. The approximate order of words in the cloud from biggest to smallest is reduced cash flow, not enough money, keep trading, reduced turnover, pay bills, uncertainty, keep cash in the bank, business was eligible, to reduce expenses and savings.

Business impacts of COVID-19 visual summary

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Data downloads

Business Impacts of COVID-19, October 2020

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Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 5676.0.55.003

Methodology

Business Indicators, Business Impacts of COVID-19 methodology, October 2020

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APA

Citation

Business Indicators, Business Impacts of COVID-19

APA

Citation

Key statistics

Revenue, expenses and employment

Expectations for revenue, expenses and employment

Cash on hand

Funds sought by businesses

Purpose of additional funds sought

Reasons for not seeking additional funds

Businesses that had not sought additional funds, by reasons for not seeking funds (a)(b)

Loan repayment deferrals

Reasons for deferring loan repayments

Business impacts of COVID-19 visual summary

Show all

Business impacts visual summary - October 2020

Data downloads

Business Impacts of COVID-19, October 2020

Previous catalogue number

Methodology

Do you need more detailed statistics?

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Microdata and TableBuilder

Provide feedback

APA

Business Indicators, Business Impacts of COVID-19

APA

Key statistics

Revenue, expenses and employment

Expectations for revenue, expenses and employment

Cash on hand

Funds sought by businesses

Purpose of additional funds sought

Reasons for not seeking additional funds

Businesses that had not sought additional funds, by reasons for not seeking funds (a)(b)

Loan repayment deferrals

Reasons for deferring loan repayments

Business impacts of COVID-19 visual summary

Show all

Business impacts visual summary - October 2020

Data downloads

Business Impacts of COVID-19, October 2020

Previous catalogue number

Methodology

Media releases

Fewer businesses report falling revenue

Do you need more detailed statistics?

Request data

Microdata and TableBuilder