Inquiry into Access of Small Business to Finance – QTIC Feedback
March 11th, 2010
With the upcoming Senate inquiry into Small businesses’ access to finance, QTIC is seeking feedback from small to medium business owners.
The launch of the inquiry follows recent findings indicating that access to finance was the number one concern for small and medium-sized businesses as the economy emerges from the global financial downturn.
The Senate inquiry will, in particular, investigate:
- The costs, terms and conditions of finance and changes to lending policies and practices affecting small businesses;
- The importance of reasonable access to funding to support small business expansion and the sector’s contribution to employment growth and economic recovery;
- The state of competition in small business lending and the impact of the Government’s banking guarantees;
- Opportunities and obstacles to other forms of financing, for example, equity to support small business ‘start ups’, liquidity, growth and expansion;
- Policies, practices and strategies to enhance access to small business finance that exist in other countries; and
- Any other related matters.
In preparing a submission to the Senate on this issue, QTIC seeks feedback from its small business members on the discussion points listed above as well as information on the specific challenges you may have faced when attempting to obtain credit.
Please provide your feedback to David Liddell, QTIC’s Policy Officer, at david.liddell@qtic.com.au by COB on Wednesday, 24 March.
QTIC will be using this opportunity to urge government to consider the role of small business in driving economic recovery and jobs growth and will be advocating for the small business sector to be provided with timely access to finance on reasonable terms.