ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwired - Jul 19, 2016) - Sage, the market leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems has called on the candidates in the running for the White House to set out their commitment to entrepreneurs, to reflect their significant contribution to the US economy. This follows a recent survey which shows that despite small business owners creating around two-thirds of all jobs, they feel "discouraged," "disgusted" and "mistrustful" about the current political landscape.
The survey of small business owners, founders and presidents with 1-50 employees representing a broad range of industries from across the U.S. was carried out last month, identifying their main concerns. It comes ahead of the world's largest conference for entrepreneurs, Sage Summit, which kicks off in Chicago next week. Sage will gather some of the biggest names from business and entertainment -- including Sir Richard Branson -- to inspire and educate entrepreneurs from around the world.
Small business owners are not overly optimistic about the future-state of their businesses, the data says. Taxation (32%), government regulation (19%) and an increasingly competitive environment (35%) are some of the biggest obstacles for these business builders. When asked about the outlook for their businesses in 2016, 49% felt that the outlook was the same as compared for 2015.
"Entrepreneurs are the powerhouse of our economy. The jobs, growth and community benefits that small businesses provide are foundational to the success of our country," said Marc Scheipe, President of Sage North America. "Unfortunately, small business owners have been largely overlooked in this election cycle. And we want to see presidential candidates and elected officials sit up and pay attention. We know the issues these heroes of the economy care about, and now we want to see the candidates tell us how they would address them.'
Sage CEO Stephen Kelly adds: "The US economy has just seen an unexpected surge in jobs, and small businesses played a huge role in this positive growth. Sage wants to give these crucial entrepreneurs a voice -- whether it's helping UK businesses understand the implications of Brexit, representing Small & Medium Businesses as they go to polls in Spain or appealing to Republicans and Democrats in the US. Broadly, our research shows that issues like regulation and taxation are holding back businesses around the world, and here in the US, we want the candidates to set out how they are going to address them. Entrepreneurs deserve the facts."
Additional insights find that:
- If small businesses owners could draft a former president (living or not) to take the reins in 2016, they would select Ronald Reagan (28%) followed by Bill Clinton (15%) and John Fitzgerald Kennedy (13%).
- While 34% of participating small business owners self-identified as Democrats, with Republicans and Independents identifying at 25%, the survey shows that respondents felt Donald Trump would perform the best in 6 out of 10 policy initiatives including decreasing regulation, reforming tax codes, handling the deficit, handling gun rights, reforming immigration and providing access to capital.
- Nearly one in four small businesses plan to invest in new technology in 2016 (23%).
Survey Methodology:
The survey was administered to 301 Sage customers across the United States in early June 2016. All respondents were small business owners, founders and presidents with 1-50 employees. Qualtrics, the world's leading enterprise insight technology provider, conducted the data collection on behalf of Sage and administered the computer-based questionnaire in English.
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About Sage Sage is a market leader for integrated accounting, payroll, and payment systems, supporting the ambition of the world's entrepreneurs. Sage began as a small business in the U.K. 30 years ago, and over 13,000 colleagues now support millions of entrepreneurs, across 23 countries, as they power the global economy. We reinvent and simplify business accounting through brilliant technology, working with a thriving community of entrepreneurs, business owners, tradespeople, accountants, partners, and developers. And as a FTSE 100 business, we are active in supporting our local communities and invest in making a real difference through the philanthropy of the Sage Foundation.
Sage - the market leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, supporting the ambition of the world's entrepreneurs.
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