Financial Literacy Among Canadian Entrepreneurs and Business Owners (BDC Capital)

Summary

• 68% of business owners believe they are knowledgeable or very knowledgeable regarding financial matters.p.12
• Business owners' average self-assessed risk score for personal financial investments is 6.3 out of 10.p.4
• Business owners rated their financial management proficiency and confidence at an average of 7.1 out of 10.p.4
• On average, business owners allocate 30% of their time in a typical week to financial aspects of their business.p.4
• Business owners rate themselves higher on management of operations (7.8 out of 10) than on financial management (7.1 out of 10) or sales and marketing (7.0 out of 10).p.4
• The proportion who consider themselves knowledgeable peaks at 75% among those aged 55 and over.p.12
• 26% of men say they are very knowledgeable about finance, against 11% of women.p.8

Key insights

1. Business owners feel quite proficient about keeping track of money and monitoring cash flow (7.6 to 7.9 out of 10).p.5
2. Business owners are less confident about accounting for taxes to various levels of government (6.8 out of 10).p.5
3. Half of business owners said they had sought external financing in the last 12 months.p.5
4. Perceived financial knowledge is 79% among those with 20 years' experience or more, against 46% for those with less than two years.p.12
5. Perceived financial knowledge is higher among firms with 10 or more employees (78% to 85%) than firms with fewer than 10 employees (57% to 63%).p.12
6. The survey of business owners was run by BDC Research and Market Intelligence with the Telfer School of Business at the University of Ottawa.p.1