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The Credit Conditions Survey was conducted between January and March of 2013. The questions were fact-based and focused on financing sought by small enterprises (1 to 99 employees) during the 2012 calendar year.
A total of 2,610 small businesses completed the questionnaire, which included 27 questions. This is the second largest Canadian survey on small business financing. The margin of error is 1.9% for questions addressed to all respondents. R.A. Malatest & Associates administered the survey for Industry Canada.
The following tables present the key statistics from this survey.
| Type of Financing | Request Rate | Approval Rate* | Average Amount Authorized |
|---|---|---|---|
| * A request that received either full approval or partial approval was considered "approved". | |||
| Debt Financing | 26 | 89 | $340,000 |
| Leasing | 8 | 95 | $193,000 |
| Equity Financing | 4 | - | - |
| Trade Credit | 8 | - | - |
| Type of Debt | Request Rate | Approval Rate* | Average Interest Rate | % Collateral Required | Average Amount Authorized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| * A request that received either full approval or partial approval was considered "approved". ** Non-residential mortgages and term loans *** Business lines of credit and credit cards. | |||||
| Long Term** | 12 | 88 | 6 | 84 | $593,000 |
| Short Term*** | 19 | 87 | 5 | 70 | $288,000 |
| Overall | 26 | 89 | 5 | 76 | $340,000 |
| Enterprise Characteristics | Request Rate | Approval Rate* | Average Amount Authorized |
|---|---|---|---|
| * A request that received either full approval or partial approval was considered "approved". ** A firm that developed or introduced a product, process, organizational or marketing innovation was considered an "innovator". | |||
| Number of Employees | |||
| 1 to 4 | 20 | 85 | $153,000 |
| 5 to 9 | 27 | 92 | $284,992 |
| 10 to 19 | 34 | 90 | $247,297 |
| 20 to 99 | 38 | 91 | $904,559 |
| Region | |||
| Atlantic | 26 | 96 | $326,000 |
| Quebec | 28 | 90 | $212,000 |
| Ontario | 25 | 83 | $339,000 |
| Manitoba-Saskatchewan | 21 | 97 | $272,000 |
| Alberta | 23 | 88 | $323,000 |
| British Columbia & Territories | 29 | 94 | $552,000 |
| Industry | |||
| Accommodation and Food | 17 | 79 | $130,000 |
| Construction | 37 | 88 | $649,000 |
| Manufacturing | 26 | 81 | $426,000 |
| Agriculture and Fishing, Forestry, and Oil and Mining | 33 | 94 | $539,000 |
| Professional Services | 21 | 84 | $134,000 |
| Transportation/Warehousing | 29 | 91 | $198,000 |
| Retail Trade | 26 | 89 | $318,000 |
| Wholesale Trade | 19 | 91 | $195,000 |
| Retail and Wholesale | 25 | 89 | $305,000 |
| Age of Business | |||
| 3 years old or younger | 32 | 82 | $256,000 |
| 4 to 10 years old | 25 | 88 | $179,000 |
| More than 10 years old | 25 | 90 | $408,000 |
| Exporting Activities | |||
| Exporter | 28 | 85 | $403,000 |
| Non-Exporter | 25 | 89 | $332,000 |
| Innovation | |||
| Product | 32 | 89 | $464,000 |
| Process | 35 | 88 | $479,000 |
| Organizational | 37 | 85 | $519,000 |
| Marketing | 35 | 87 | $415,000 |
| Innovator** | 32 | 89 | $412,000 |
| Non-Innovator | 20 | 89 | $227,000 |
| Gender of Majority Owner | |||
| Male | 27 | 89 | $335,000 |
| Female | 24 | 88 | $176,000 |
| Jointly Owned | 22 | 89 | $568,000 |
| Education Level of Majority Owner | |||
| Less than high school | 19 | 89 | $225,000 |
| High school diploma | 22 | 91 | $257,000 |
| College/Cegep/Trade school diploma | 30 | 88 | $279,000 |
| Bachelor Degree | 27 | 88 | $534,000 |
| Masters Degree or above | 26 | 88 | $291,000 |
| Experience Level of Majority Owner | |||
| 5 years or less | 26 | 85 | $161,000 |
| 6 to 10 years | 23 | 90 | $198,000 |
| More than 10 years | 27 | 89 | $384,000 |
| Age of Majority Owner | |||
| Younger than 40 years old | 28 | 87 | $344,000 |
| 40 to 49 years old | 27 | 91 | $184,000 |
| 50 to 64 years old | 26 | 88 | $399,000 |
| 65 years old or older | 15 | 90 | $571,000 |
| Reason | % |
|---|---|
| Financing not needed | 86 |
| Investment project postponed | 2 |
| Thought request would be turned down | 4 |
| Applying for financing too difficult | 5 |
| Cost of financing too high | 2 |
| Other reason | 2 |
| Intended Use | % |
|---|---|
| Fixed asset | 35 |
| Working/Operating capital | 44 |
| Research and development | 2 |
| Debt consolidations | 7 |
| Enter a new market | 10 |
| Other use | 2 |
| Destination | % |
|---|---|
| Local municipality or region | 76.5 |
| Rest of province/territory | 15.7 |
| Rest of Canada | 4.5 |
| Rest of the world | 3.3 |