Small Business Survey Scotland: 2022-2023

Findings for Scotland from the Small Business Survey 2022-2023


Access to External Finance

  • 75 per cent of SME employers in Scotland were currently using external finance at the time of the 2022-23 survey

Figure 4: The most common forms of external finance used by SME employers were credit cards (37 per cent of SME employers) and leasing/hire purchases (30 per cent).

Types of external finance currently used (2022-23). Multiple answers allowed across this question.

A bar chart showing 37 per cent of Scottish small to medium sized enterprises used credit cards as a source of external finance.

Source: Small Business Survey Scotland 2022-2023 from DBT and Scottish Government. For Figure 4 data, see table ‘H3’.

  • 15 per cent of SME employers had tried to obtain external finance in the previous 12 months
  • 63 per cent of SME employers that had applied for finance did so for working capital or cash flow reasons

Figure 5: The most common forms of external finance applied for were bank overdraft facilities (45 per cent of SME employers that applied for finance) and loans from banks, building societies and other financial institutions (30 per cent).

Types of external finance sought (2022-23). Multiple answers allowed across this question.

A bar chart showing 45 percent of finance-seeking Scottish small to medium sized enterprises applied for a bank overdraft.

Source: Small Business Survey Scotland 2022-2023 from DBT and Scottish Government. For Figure 5 data, see table ‘H5’.

  • 72 per cent of SME employers who sought external finance for investment purposes obtained the entire amount they were looking for. Meanwhile, 56 per cent who sought external finance for cashflow purposes received all the money desired          
  • 8 per cent of SME employers were discouraged borrowers (i.e. they had a need for external finance in the last 12 months that they did not apply for)

Contact

For enquiries about this publication please contact:

Jan Tomasik

Office of the Chief Economic Adviser

e-mail: jan.tomasik@gov.scot or industrystatistics@gov.scot

 

For general enquiries about Scottish Government statistics please contact:

Office of the Chief Statistician

e-mail: statistics.enquiries@gov.scot

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