Owner Comp Lags Revenue Growth
38.5% of Australian small business owners paid themselves under $40,000 or took no wage in FY25, according to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Small Business Conditions Survey. The survey covered 1,000+ businesses with up to 24 FTEs.
The data shows a gap between business performance and owner take-home. Small businesses generated nearly $590 billion in revenue in 2022-23, accounting for one-third of Australian GDP. Xero's latest data shows sales for Australian small businesses rose 6.5% year-on-year in Q2 2026, following 7.2% growth in Q1.
But that revenue growth is not translating to owner compensation.
Cost Pressure, Margin Squeeze
62.9% of owners cited increasing costs as their biggest challenge. 48.9% flagged maintaining profitability. Andrew McKellar, ACCI chief executive, told SmartCompany the sequence is rent, rates, suppliers, staff wages, then owner pay. What is left over, if anything, goes to the owner.
In many cases, owners earn less than their staff while spending unpaid time on accounts, compliance, and admin outside business hours.
Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman data backs this up: three-quarters of full-time self-employed small business owners earn less than the average full-time adult wage. Many rely on business income plus investments rather than wages alone.
Why This Matters for Sales
If you are selling to Australian SMBs (accounting, payroll, cash-flow tools, lending products, SME software), you are targeting a market where revenue is up but owner compensation is flat or down. That changes the sales conversation.
Price sensitivity is real. Decision cycles may lengthen. ROI conversations need to be tighter. The business might be growing, but the person signing off is not seeing that growth in their own pay packet.
ATO small business benchmarks remain the key reference for comparing performance by industry. If your patch includes SMB, know the numbers. The revenue is there. The margin is not.