Management Research Centre

Waikato Benchmarking

NZ Business Benchmarking Survey

The New Zealand Business Benchmarking Survey has been run by The University of Waikato Management Research Centre for the past 30 years.  During this time we have worked closely with accountants to provide financial benchmarking information for client advice. The data for this survey are collected, in partnership with MYOB NZ, from New Zealand accounting firms in public practice.

Business Classifications reported incorporate the ANZSIC 2006 structure along with Custom Classes (added by the University to provide more detailed business category reports). 405 industry reports involving SMEs were reported in the 2010 survey.  This includes an increase of 28 Class and Custom Class reports published and 10% more businesses received than the previous year's survey. 

The Survey provides financial ratios covering income, profitability, overhead structure, ratios per person, liquidity, and capital structure for a range of NZ industries. The results are divided into two levels. A sample of these results is accessible from the Purchase the 2010 Survey webpage. The first level displays the aggregate results for all businesses within each classification, showing the range of results in different percentiles, and the average result for the best three performers based on Net Profit per Working Owner. The second level provides additional breakdowns of a classification's results based on total income, net profit per working owner, and location.  The median results for these sub-groups (where the sample is sufficient to include them) are displayed side by side for comparison. 

Accountants in Public Practice can indicate their interest in participating now by requesting registration information here or via our How to Participate page.  Client data for the 2010 statistics, published June 2011, were submitted by March 2011.

Businesses and Individuals may purchase NZ Business Benchmarking Survey industry reports from the University of Waikato. Visit the link Purchase the 2010 Survey to download an order form, an example set of results and the list of business classifications published.  Alternatively, we suggest that you encourage your accountant to participate in the survey so that they can provide you with an individualized comparison report.

More Information  about the survey is available on our How to Participate page, or by contacting either:

The University of Waikato:
0800 14 24 34, email mrc@waikato.ac.nz

MYOB Customer Services:
0800 94 96 98, email accountants@myob.co.nz
Or visit their website at www.myob.co.nz/benchmarking