EMPLOYER ATTITUDE SURVEYS – AUSTRALIA

Budget deficit saps confidence

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 19 : 20-Jan-15

Roy Morgan Research’s business confidence index has fallen to its lowest level since August 2011. The index fell to 105.3 in December 2014, compared with 123 in November. Roy Morgan’s Norman Morris says business confidence was adversely affected by the Australian Government’s forecast of a $A40bn Budget deficit for 2014-15. A survey by the Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry also shows that there has been a sharp fall in business conditions

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, TD SECURITIES, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Firms count on confidence

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Original article by Chris Merritt
The Australian – Page: 21 : 28-Nov-14

Commonwealth Bank of Australia has issued its first "Accounting Market Pulse" survey, commissioned from Beaton Research + Consulting. The findings for September and October 2104 indicate that accounting firms in all states except South Australia predict revenue to increase. The ratio of respondents stating that trading conditions are positive is net 15%, while that of firms forecasting the same for 2015 is 50%. This is better on both counts than for law firms, with researcher George Beaton noting that accounting groups offer a wider range of services to their clients

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COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, BEATON RESEARCH AND CONSULTING PTY LTD

Small businesses hopeful but cautious

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Original article by Su-Lin Tan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 38 : 25-Nov-14

The Westpac and Melbourne Institute "Small Business Index" for November 2014 shows a rise of 10.4% in sentiment over the past three months. However just a fifth of the respondent said they were planning to invest capital in expansion. One area attracting more funding is online social networking media. The findings largely echo those of the separate "Australian Attitudes to Small Business Report" study by American Express. The credit card company is launching a new promotion to boost consumer spending at small businesses

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH, AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, LICENCE TO BILL

Sliding profits build pessimism

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 19 : 24-Nov-14

Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO Kate Carnell has issued the employer lobby group’s latest survey of small business conditions. While the residential construction sector is strong because of increased housing demand, for all other types of small enterprises there has been a decline across the 11 indicators measured. Subdued sentiment among consumers as well as businesses has meant the Reserve Bank of Australia’s official interest rate cuts have failed to spark increased spending that would lift the economy

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, HOUSING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LIMITED

Chucking 10 sickies a year costs employers $33 billion

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Original article by Misa Han
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 17-Nov-14

A survey by Direct Health Solutions has found that Australian workers take an average of 9.5 days of sick leave each year. This is estimated to cost $A3,230 for each employee, or more than $A33bn overall. An unexpected illness was cited by 82 per cent of employers as the main reason why workers take sick leave, while 55 per cent believe that workers have a sick day without a valid reason. Tourism and hospitality industry workers were found to use the most personal leave

CORPORATES
DIRECT HEALTH SOLUTIONS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, CBP LAWYERS

Confidence lifts but jobs lag

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 21 : 13-Aug-14

The latest data compiled by National Australia Bank on the nation’s businesses, excluding agriculture, show that both confidence and trading conditions improved in July 2014. The latter are now at levels last witnessed in 2010, while sentiment is at the best reading since the global financial crisis. New Australian Bureau of Statistics figures also indicate residential real estate prices growth of 10.1% for 2013-14. However the jobless rate for July was up as well, to 6.4%. This was the worst result in a dozen years

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, COMMONWEALTH SECURITIES LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Odds against joint ventures

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 5-Aug-14

A survey of CEOs by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) shows that 43 per cent of the Australian respondents intend to establish a strategic alliance or joint venture in 2014, compared with 28 per cent in 2013. Mike Sum of PwC notes that strategic alliances are becoming more popular in the business sector. However, he notes that such alliances often fail during the implementation stage

CORPORATES
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SNP SECURITY SERVICES PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, VISA INTERNATIONAL, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, GE CAPITAL AUSTRALIA, AURIZON HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX AZJ, SHANGHAI BAOSTEEL GROUP CORPORATION, AQUILA RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX AQA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WOOLWORTHS EZY BANKING, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, BBY LIMITED, VIRGIN MONEY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Top firms see better times on the horizon

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Original article by Chris Merritt
The Australian – Page: 27-28 : 18-Jul-14

Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Beaton Research + Consulting have issued their latest survey of business confidence among the leading commercial law firms. It covers the second quarter of calendar 2014, and 31 firms with total revenue of $A3.6bn per annum. Among the findings are that the net ratio of firms seeing conditions as negative has fallen to 23% from 28%, but that among top-tier providers the drop has been from 50% to just 14%. Out of 15 practice areas looked at by the research, an improvement is forecast for 13

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COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, BEATON RESEARCH AND CONSULTING PTY LTD