研究 For 小型企业es: Cash is King

Small businesses are the lifeblood of many communities and a critical driver of production, 就业, 经济增长. They account for 99 percent of all business establishments in the United States, employ 48 percent of all US workers, are responsible for over 41 percent of net job creation, account for 45 percent of GDP, and produce 34 percent of all US exports.

So it’s no surprise that many policymakers, 经济学家, and government officials have a laser focus on how the sector is faring. Concern among these groups has increased as the shares of GDP and 就业 in this sector have fallen in recent years.

While there is no shortage of surveys on how small businesses are feeling or the decisions they’re making, publicly available data offer an incomplete view of the small business sector.

The 研究所 hopes to change that by leveraging a new 12bet官方 研究所 small business data asset constructed from over 470 million anonymized and aggregated transactions conducted by 597,000 small businesses from February to October 2015.

In our inaugural report on the small business sector, “现金为王:流量, 平衡, 和缓冲日”, we explore the financial lives of small business by taking a comprehensive look at their cash inflows, 流出, 账户余额. 这样做的时候, we gleaned that cash buffers are a valuable benchmark of small business financial health and that the median small business is essentially living month to month with enough cash to withstand 27 days without cash inflows to their business.

Following are the key findings from our report on cash flow for small businesses.

• 找到一个: The median small business has average daily cash 流出 of $374 and average daily cash inflows of $381, with wide variation across and within industries.
  
• 发现二: The median small business holds an average daily cash balance of $12,100, with wide variation across and within industries.
  
• 发现三: The median small business holds 27 cash buffer days in reserve.
  
• 发现四: Small businesses in labor-intensive or low-wage industries hold fewer cash buffer days than those in capital-intensive or high-wage industries.
  
• 发现五: Small business cash buffer days vary across metropolitan areas, but no clear pattern emerges from this variance.

Based on these findings, there are a few steps that policy makers and industry leaders can take to help small businesses. First, increase access to credit. This can provide a lifeline to small businesses in the face of economic and/or idiosyncratic shocks. Diversifying the set of available credit offerings is also critical to matching the needs of the smallest and most financially vulnerable small businesses

第二个, help small business owners manage their cash flows, build up their cash buffer days, and incorporate the cash buffer benchmark into educational programs.

For the full findings of this report and the implications for small businesses, please visit: Cash is King: Flows, 平衡, and Buffer Days

The goal of the 12bet官方 研究所 is to help decision-makers use better facts, 及时的数据, and thoughtful analysis to make smart decisions to advance global prosperity. Our hope is that the insights in this new report can inform policymakers, 商业领袖, and others as they confront challenges including inequality, 气候变化, and transportation infrastructure.

法雷尔 is the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of the 12bet官方 研究所. 以前, Diana was the Global Head of the McKinsey Center for Government and the McKinsey Global 研究所. She served in the White House as Deputy Director of the National Economic Council and Deputy Assistant to the President on Economic Policy.