Mid-market businesses are feeling upbeat about the future, a KPMG Enterprise survey of business leaders found, with nearly half predicting significant wages growth.
The pre-budget survey of more than 100 Australian mid-tier business leaders found that more than half (54 percent) were confident about growth prospects for the rest of 2022 and the next three years, with over a quarter (26 percent) predicting growth of 10 percent or more during that time.
On wages, 44 percent of leaders believed wage growth would be between 4-8 percent, with a small number predicting rises of more than 8 percent. Another 44 percent said rises would be more restrained, between 2-4 percent.
Increased competition for talent appears to have had a direct bearing on these wage forecasts, with more than two-thirds (69 percent) of respondents saying that recruiting and retaining talented staff was their biggest challenge – this was clearly the top issue facing businesses.
Re-establishing critical manufacturing and greater investment in training programs to address the skills shortage were also priorities.
Establishing a presence in Geelong as part of its regional growth strategy, KPMG Australia is a sponsor of the 2022 Technology and Innovation Summit with Associate Director, Geelong, Matthew Fletcher, to chair a session on “Getting tech and innovation to market”.
Mr Fletcher is part of the KPMG Accelerating Business Growth team which specialises in grants, funding and innovation services.
“The Accelerating Business Growth team, which is a subject close to my heart, is all about assisting businesses and organisations to get access to the right funding, whether through grants or through something like the R&D tax incentive, and we also provide innovation services,” Mr Fletcher said.
“Cash flow is at the front of everybody’s mind but if there is money that you are entitled to, or money that you could potentially be competitive in getting from the government, then why not get in front of it?”
The Accelerating Business Growth team is part of KPMG’s wider Enterprise team that supports mid-market and larger medium sized businesses through a range of KPMG’s professional services.
Its future Geelong office is part of a wider regional expansion strategy in other key regional Australian cities.
“We already have a wide range of clients from Geelong and this gives us an opportunity to not just service those clients but bring the type of firm that KPMG is to the city as a whole,” Mr Fletcher said.
At the summit, Mr Fletcher will be joined by representatives from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, LaunchVic, Hanwha Defence Australia and innovative Geelong companies FLAIM Systems and Austeng.
Book your tickets to the Technology & Innovation Summit here.
