Comparing how your business performs against others in your industry is a good way to monitor your business’s financial health. An easy way to do this is to use the small business benchmarks.

Benchmarking is evaluating something compared to a standard – in this case, comparing your business performance to your industry’s standard.

The ATO has updated the benchmarks for over 100 industries with data sourced from 2013–14 financial year income tax returns and business activity statements of over 1.3 million small businesses.

These benchmarks can help you manage your business and recognise problems early on. For example, you might notice that your expenses far outweigh your turnover compared to similar businesses in your industry. There could be a variety of reasons for this (you may be using resources less efficiently, or have a much lower mark-up than your competitors); but by identifying the problem early, you can take steps to fix it.

See how you compare with others in your industry and build your business with benchmarks.

Check your business performance with the small business benchmarks.

From the ATO