The New York Fed surveys over 1,500 small firms twice a year about their financing and credit needs. Responses to the Small Business Credit. (It would be nice for the other Fed banks to do a similar study, hint, hint)
In the Q4 2013 survey, a weighted to be a statistically representative sample of firms in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania reported on their business performance and credit
experiences in the first half of 2013 and their outlook for the first half of 2014.
Here are the highlights.
- Firm outlook is positive for Q1 and Q2 2014: more than 50% expect rev. to increase and 30% expect to add employees
- Firms report small credit needs and high search costs: most sought loans <$100k; more than 26 hours spent on the search
- Managing uneven cash flow dominates firm concerns
- More experience and success correlated with more favorable credit experience