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The Credit Conditions Survey was conducted in May and June 2011. The questions were fact-based and focused on financing sought by small enterprises (1 to 99 employees) during the 2010 calendar year.
A total of 3,573 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 1.6%, 19 times out of 20, for questions addressed to all respondents. Leger Marketing administered the survey for Industry Canada. You can view the Survey questionnaire.
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 | 18% | 88% | $319,000 |
| Leasing | 2% | 97% | $189,000 |
| Equity Financing | 1% | – | – |
| Trade Credit | 1% | – | – |
| 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** | 9% | 92% | 5.4% | 72% | $415,000 |
| Short Term*** | 11% | 85% | 6.2% | 60% | $187,000 |
| Overall | 18% | 88% | 5.7% | 67% | $319,000 |
| 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 in the 2010 calendar year. | |||
| Number of Employees | |||
| 1 to 4 | 15% | 84% | $177,000 |
| 5 to 9 | 21% | 88% | $327,000 |
| 10 to 19 | 23% | 93% | $300,000 |
| 20 to 99 | 24% | 97% | $883,000 |
| Region | |||
| Atlantic | 14% | 97% | $185,000 |
| Quebec | 25% | 87% | $177,000 |
| Ontario | 16% | 86% | $275,000 |
| Manitoba-Saskatchewan | 20% | 100% | $305,000 |
| Alberta | 15% | 90% | $338,000 |
| British Columbia & Territories | 19% | 83% | $777,000 |
| Industry | |||
| Accommodation and Food | 17% | 84% | $95,000 |
| Construction | 26% | 95% | $235,000 |
| Manufacturing | 28% | 88% | $636,000 |
| Agriculture and Fishing, Forestry, and Oil and Mining | 20% | 100% | $561,000 |
| Professional Services | 13% | 86% | $138,000 |
| Transportation/Warehousing | 23% | 81% | $573,000 |
| Retail Trade | 16% | 86% | $123,000 |
| Wholesale Trade | 18% | 93% | $603,000 |
| Retail and Wholesale | 17% | 88% | $255,000 |
| Age of Business | |||
| 3 years old or younger | 23% | 88% | $141,000 |
| 4 to 10 years old | 20% | 85% | $359,000 |
| More than 10 years old | 17% | 90% | $331,000 |
| Exporting Activities | |||
| Exporter | 21% | 86% | $703,000 |
| Non-Exporter | 18% | 88% | $266,000 |
| Region | |||
| Rural | 19% | 93% | $369,000 |
| Urban | 18% | 86% | $302,000 |
| Innovation | |||
| Product | 24% | 82% | $196,000 |
| Process | 20% | 93% | $595,000 |
| Organizational | 29% | 91% | $317,000 |
| Marketing | 25% | 85% | $432,000 |
| Innovator** | 25% | 87% | $394,000 |
| Non-Innovator | 15% | 89% | $252,000 |
| Gender of Majority Owner | |||
| Male | 19% | 88% | $366,000 |
| Female | 16% | 87% | $110,000 |
| Jointly Owned | 17% | 84% | $213,000 |
| Education Level of Majority Owner | |||
| Less than high school | 21% | 87% | $159,000 |
| High school diploma | 19% | 87% | $200,000 |
| College/Cegep/Trade school diploma | 19% | 88% | $186,000 |
| Bachelor Degree | 18% | 89% | $594,000 |
| Masters Degree or above | 17% | 90% | $658,000 |
| Experience Level of Majority Owner | |||
| 5 years or less | 23% | 88% | $88,000 |
| 6 to 10 years | 19% | 84% | $138,000 |
| More than 10 years | 18% | 89% | $363,000 |
| Age of Majority Owner | |||
| Younger than 40 years old | 23% | 90% | $150,000 |
| 40 to 49 years old | 22% | 90% | $370,000 |
| 50 to 64 years old | 17% | 86% | $286,000 |
| 65 years old or older | 13% | 87% | $370,000 |
| Reason | % |
|---|---|
| Financing not needed | 89% |
| Investment project postponed | 1% |
| Thought request would be turned down | 3% |
| Applying for financing too difficult | 3% |
| Cost of financing too high | 2% |
| Other reason | 2% |
| Intended Use | % |
|---|---|
| Fixed asset | 34% |
| Working/Operating capital | 54% |
| Research and development | 2% |
| Debt consolidations | 5% |
| Enter a new domestic market | 1% |
| Enter a new global market | 1% |
| Other use | 3% |
| Destination | % |
|---|---|
| Local municipality or region | 93% |
| Local municipality or region only | 54% |
| Rest of province/territory | 37% |
| Rest of Canada | 19% |
| United States | 9% |
| Rest of the world | 5% |