The findings from MYOB’s Annual Business Monitor – a nationwide survey of 1000+ SME owners and operators from across New Zealand – show that the proportion of business operators dissatisfied with the Government’s overall performance to date (35%) now outnumber those that are satisfied (33%), while the remaining 31% are neutral.
Views on the Coalition's handling of issues affecting SMEs are also split. While 42% of business operators believe they're addressing them well, more than half of respondents disagree, with 33% saying they're not tackling them effectively, and a further 19% saying they haven't addressed them at all.
The results from this year’s Business Monitor come as Kiwi SMEs continue to juggle higher costs over the past 12 months, with data showing overheads are up by an average of $1200 per month, and total (combined) insurance premiums have risen by an average of $1800 in the last year – the latter increasing to more than $3200 on average for medium-sized businesses.
MYOB Chief Executive, Paul Robson, explains: "At the beginning of this year, our insights suggested most SMEs were starting 2026 more hopeful about their prospects and backed by relatively stable revenue and cashflow, but rising costs and recent increasing uncertainty may have clouded over some of the growth ambitions we saw coming through.
“These factors, as well as a slower-than-anticipated economic recovery, can often shape some of the sentiment by businesses around the support available to them.”
National leading party for SMEs but voting intentions shifting
Despite satisfaction dipping, this year’s Business Monitor shows the current Coalition parties have maintained a clear majority of the votes from New Zealand’s SME operators.
By political party, National is still the first choice among business owners, with 37% of those polled expecting to vote for the party at this year’s General Election, while both coalition partners – NZ First and ACT – each have 11% support.
Since the 2023 Business Monitor (conducted prior to the last election), support for Opposition parties has grown, with 20% of SME decision-makers intending to vote for Labour (up 5%), while the Greens have improved slightly to 4%. The Opportunities Party sits at 2% while Te Pati Māori has 1%.
“We have seen some movement in voting intentions compared to the run up to the last election, and just over one-in-10 SME decision-makers are undecided about their vote,” says Paul. “Given the size of the SME community in New Zealand, that is still a significant number of votes to compete for and overall, business owners will be looking for practical policy platforms that deliver targeted support where it is most impactful.”
Policy focus on easing costs, cutting red tape, driving investment
The 2026 Budget is just weeks away and MYOB’s Business Monitor polled SMEs on the top three actions the Government could take to better support business this year. Reducing compliance burdens, alleviating cost pressures, and supporting investment were key themes that came through in the results.
Top of the list was reinstating the ACC No Claims Discount for small businesses, with just under a third (32%) wanting to see this, followed by further efforts to simplify health and safety compliance requirements (28%) and changing the current Low Value Asset Write-Off of $1,000 to be a permanent Instant Asset Write-Off of $10,000 (26%). Also with strong support amongst local business operators are increasing the provisional tax threshold (24%), action to address insurance affordability for SMEs (23%) and energy bill relief via tax rebates (23%).
“While there is little doubt about the balancing act the current Government faces in investing in the future of New Zealand business and managing existing debt levels, there is clear opportunity for practical support for local SMEs that will ease some of the load they are carrying day-to-day,” says Paul.
“Business owners will be monitoring outcomes of the upcoming Budget keenly to see what’s in it for them, but looking further ahead to the election on the horizon, the parties that put forward credible, targeted policies for SMEs will strengthen their appeal to a segment that represents a significant share of the voting public."
ENDS
About the MYOB NZ Annual Business Monitor
Running since 2009, The Annual MYOB Business Monitor is a national survey of 1,000+ New Zealand small and medium business owners, managers and directors, from sole traders to mid-sized companies, representing the major industry sectors. The Monitor researches business performance and attitudes in areas such as profitability, cashflow, technology usage and the Government.
The 2026 MYOB Business Monitor survey was conducted by the Online Research Unit – a division of Kantar. The survey comprised a national sample of 1026 New Zealand business owners, managers and directors (operators) and was conducted from January 28th – 9th March 2026. The businesses participating in the online survey were both non-employing and employing businesses. All data has been weighted by industry type, location and number of employees, which are in line with Statistics New Zealand (New Zealand Business Demography Statistics: At February 2025: ISSN 1174-1988). The margin of error for the total sample is +3.1%.