NZ Budget: Fiscal repair won’t succeed if small businesses keep being neglected, warns CPA Australia

• Budget forecasts New Zealand returning to surplus year earlier
• Lack of targeted support for small business is a concern

CPA Australia supports Budget 2026’s focus on fiscal responsibility and restoring New Zealand's path to surplus by 2028/29 – a year earlier than expected.

With two credit rating agencies shifting New Zealand’s outlook to negative in recent months, the case for careful fiscal management is clear. 

However, the Budget lacks targeted measures for small businesses, and CPA Australia's latest research shows the sector that drives much of New Zealand's employment and economic activity continues to fall further behind its Asia-Pacific peers.

Small businesses make up 97 per cent* of all New Zealand enterprises, employ 29 per cent of the workforce and produce an estimated 42 per cent of the country’s economic value. 

CPA Australia’s 2025–2026 Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey of more than 4,100 businesses across 11 markets shows New Zealand’s small businesses ranked last for growth for the second year running, with just 38 per cent reporting growth in 2025. 

“We understand the fiscal pressures that shape this Budget. As an accounting body, we know that keeping the books in order matters,” said Rick Jones, CPA Australia’s Regional Head. 

“But you cannot build long-term fiscal sustainability or productivity improvements when the small business sector is falling behind its regional peers. 

“These businesses generate the jobs and the tax base that the path back to surplus depends on. Fiscal sustainability and small business performance are not competing priorities – they depend on each other.” 

According to CPA Australia’s survey, only 5 per cent of New Zealand’s small businesses say they will innovate in 2026, down from 8 per cent a year earlier and well below the survey average of 29 per cent. 

“The digital divide is real, and it’s not closing,” Mr Jones said. “We are disappointed to see that there is no targeted support for small business to address this gap.” 

Mr Jones said fiscal consolidation was necessary but not sufficient on its own and called for a comprehensive small business strategy as part of New Zealand’s growth agenda. 

“New Zealand cannot solve its productivity problem while its small businesses lag behind the rest of Asia-Pacific on innovation and technology adoption,” he said.

“Not every reform needs to come with a fiscal price tag, but this sector does need a deliberate policy focus. Stronger small businesses mean a stronger tax base, more jobs and a more resilient economy.”

*Source: MBIE, Small Businesses in 2022 factsheet, based on Stats NZ data

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