Business View Oceania - April 2024

rise (+4.2 per cent y/y). The Index suggests that real wages for small business staff are not yet rising. Payment time measures remained steady in the three months to March, continuing the trend seen throughout 2023. Small businesses waited an average of 22.6 days to be paid in the March quarter (down from 22.7 days in the December quarter) and payments were late on average by 6.5 days (up from 6.3 days late in the three months to December). “The data from Xero Small Business Insights provides us with a critically important understanding of Australian small-business performance,”Anthony Drury, Managing Director for Xero in ANZ, said. “Against challenging economic conditions,it’s verypleasing to see a promising start to the year and we’re hopeful this momentum can continue. For small businesses looking at opportunities to grow or streamline operations in 2024, particularly as we head into the busy end-of-financial-year period, we’d encourage them to speak with their advisor, and review their biggest pain points and areas to improve productivity. There might be some accessible actions they can take, such as leveraging 8 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 06, ISSUE 04