iscoverThe sentiment and confidence of South Australian businesses are on the rise following several flat quarters, according to the accounting firm.
SME confidence in SA on the mend, William Buck says
03 September 2025
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8 minute read
William Buck has revealed an uptick in business confidence across South Australia, after multiple periods of subdued levels which were heavily influenced by economic and cost-of-living pressures.
Despite the rise in both sentiment and confidence, the firm noted that this arrived alongside a “different kind of pressure” as inflation had reduced, meaning it was harder to pass cost increases through to customers, while overheads and wages continued to increase.
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Adrian Chugg, William Buck managing partner, said when inflation was running “hotter”, price rises were easier to justify.
“Now inflation has cooled and customers are pushing back. The result is a tight squeeze on margins and a sharper look at costs and productivity,” he said.
“Across many sectors, particularly those selling to households feeling the cost-of-living strain, firms report that straightforward price increases aren’t sticking. Business-to-business suppliers can sometimes adjust more easily, but even there, buyers are taking a harder line. The playbook is shifting from pricing to productivity.”
From the data, it was noted that too many SMEs lived off the P&L and cash balance and often “only glanced” at what created those dollars.
Chugg said SMES needed to focus on the drivers and not just the dollars, and that they should pick one output metric that drove revenue and track it, to then pair it with a controllable input to show cause and effect.
This was suggested as the discipline would underpin a focus on productivity, which would help owners decide which customers and jobs deserved priority.
Chugg said if a customer consistently absorbed admin, squeezed a timeline and left no margin, then that was a signal.
“One data point that stood out in this quarter’s survey was a fall in overtime. This is conscious cost control rather than a simple easing in labour shortages.”
“Overtime is expensive and it brings risks around safety, quality and burnout. We’ve seen our clients set hard guard rails: minimise overtime, even if that means walking away from marginal jobs. Better to forego low-return revenue than carry extra cost and risk for very little gain.”
The accounting firm found that the shift in sentiment and confidence was tied to a broader change in mindset, as when prices were increasing, maintaining throughput at all costs made more sense.
Whereas today, with demand more variable and customers cost-sensitive, businesses are seen to have “pruned” unprofitable work and focused on repeatable margins.
Chugg said on the subject of tax, the overarching message from recent data was that businesses wanted the government to demonstrate better spending discipline.
“Payroll tax remains the most disliked impost in the SME space — on cost, complexity and principle. It feels counterintuitive to tax employment.”
“Thresholds, rates and definitions differ by state; indexation lags create de facto bracket creep; and the admin burden is real. Uniform settings and sensible thresholds would remove a lot of friction.”
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