Two out of three Australian small businesses think that ‘business is good’, with some considering the strong Australian dollar an integral business tool, according to a new small business survey released today by Westpac.

Despite the recent spell of financial and natural disasters, local business forecasts are sunny with 57 per cent expecting better performance in the next six months. More than half of Australian businesses expect to meet their profit targets, but even more surprisingly, 25 per cent thought their businesses were likely to do better than expected.

The survey also showed 36 per cent of small businesses have no budget or cashflow management process, despite managing cashflow often being cited as one of the main challenges in running a profitable business.

“Business conditions have rarely been tougher, but our new sentiment survey shows that far from complaining, many Australian entrepreneurs and small business owners are just getting on with business,” Westpac General Manager SME Segment Sian Lewis said.

An integral part of the Westpac’s Local Business Sentiment Survey is the Happiness Index. While small business owners in Victoria, Western Australia and the ACT ranked higher than the Australian score of 60, businesses in Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory fell under the national level.

“What we found interesting was that even though Queensland is doing it especially tough it registered a happiness score of 58, just under the national average,” Ms Lewis said.

“This shows a particular resilience in the Queensland business community – I would have expected them to be a little more off the pace.”

While managing business costs, driving sales and employee performance were amongst the biggest headaches for local businesses, positive customer relationships, meeting personal goals and strong operational performance were the top three factors positively influencing the happiness of Australian business owners.

“The survey also showed that small businesses which sought financial advice from their local bank manager had a higher overall business sentiment, had a better-performing business, were more optimistic about the next six months and were happier overall,” Ms Lewis said.

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