​​Small Business Advisory Review​: Executive summary

The NSW Government appointed Mark Bouris AM, with support from the Service NSW Business Bureau, to lead a 90-day review into the needs and priorities of small businesses for advisory services.

1.1    Executive summary

  • Small businesses are central to the NSW economy, representing around 97% of all businesses and contributing significantly to employment, innovation, and local communities. However, they face increasing pressures from a rapidly evolving operating environment, characterised by cost pressures, ongoing digital transformation, and shifting market conditions. 
  • Small businesses spend most of their time and resources delivering services and generally have less capacity to develop core business capability, particularly in areas such as strategic planning, financial management, marketing, and compliance, as well as in business resilience, including preparedness, adaptability, and the ability to respond to disruption and change. 
  • While NSW small businesses receive support from the Service NSW Business Bureau, there is strong evidence that small businesses need a contemporary, fit-for-purpose advisory service to help them survive and thrive.
  • In response, the NSW Government initiated a consultative review in March 2026, led by Mark Bouris AM and supported by the Service NSW Business Bureau. Small businesses and stakeholders participated through Have Your Say online survey, submissions and consultations to inform the design of the new advisory service. Over 3,000 responses were received across the survey, submissions and stakeholder consultations. 

1.2    Advisory service access and model

  • There is strong demand for practical, accessible and outcomes-focused advisory service to help small businesses build capability and strengthen resilience. Tailored, 1:1 support from experienced advisors is highly valued, particularly when complemented by other capability-building activities. 
  • Cost is a primary barrier to engaging commercial business advisory services. Other barriers include limited awareness, time constraints, perceived lack of value, and difficulty accessing trusted, local advisors. 
  • A hybrid delivery model is strongly preferred, combining in-person and digital support. This provides business customers with some choice on how they access support, based on what suits their business. 
  • Small businesses want the new advisory service to be connected and coordinated with complementary support and programs across government, non-government and private sectors. This delivers better customer experience and targets key business needs. 

1.3    Businesses need support at high-impact stages to promote growth and resilience 

  • Small businesses experience key turning points across their lifecycle where capability gaps emerge and pathways to support are unclear. Early-stage businesses often begin with strong ideas or motivation but may lack core skills in business strategy, planning, and financial literacy.
  • As businesses move into operation, their needs shift toward stabilisation and achieving financial viability, with a focus on cashflow management, marketing, and compliance.
  • Established businesses require more specialised support to manage growth, make strategic decisions, and operate in increasingly complex environments, including navigating contracts, digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption, workforce obligations, and regulatory requirements.
  • Embedding a regular business health check process is critical to help businesses refine strategy, improve performance, stay relevant to the market and respond to changing conditions.
  • Business resilience is underdeveloped, with many businesses lacking the capability to anticipate and respond effectively to disruption, to adapt, and to manage risk. There is a strong need for resilience to be planned early and then reviewed regularly to respond to evolving economic circumstances.
  • Financial capability is a critical risk area, with poor financial management a leading cause of business failure and many owners lacking practical financial knowledge.

1.4    Priority industries and cohorts benefit from targeted support 

  • Targeted advisory support can increase small business participation in delivering NSW Government priorities. Through its housing priorities, infrastructure pipeline and revitalisation of the night-time economy through vibrancy reforms, the NSW Government is creating the conditions for small businesses to thrive. However, construction and hospitality businesses face high insolvency rates driven by challenges on cost controls and cashflow management. The new advisory service can support these businesses to strengthen financial and compliance capabilities to manage cash-flow and debt. 
  • Aboriginal, multicultural, and women-led businesses are among the fastest growing cohorts and have significant growth potential. However, they face additional barriers to starting and growing their businesses, including developing robust business models and accessing finance, and would benefit from tailored, culturally appropriate advisory services.
  • Regional businesses face distinct challenges compared to metropolitan counterparts including more vulnerable supply chains, higher exposure to disruption and workforce shortages, requiring locally informed and place-based support.

1.5    Recommendations 

Based on the findings of the review, it is recommended that the NSW Government:

  1. Introduce a new small business advisory service to support and sustain businesses in challenging economic and fiscal settings at cost of $37M over four years ($7M for 2026/27, then $10M pa for remaining years), which comprises:
    • Digital focused multi-channel advisory service delivered online and supported by experienced small business advisors, available in-person and over the phone available to small businesses state-wide. 
    • Innovative digital advisory resources, including a phased introduction of complementary Artificial Intelligence tools, delivered with specialist advice and events, to strengthen business capability at high impact stages.
    • Dedicated specialist support for priority industries (construction and hospitality), cohorts (Aboriginal, women and multicultural) and regional businesses.
    • Strong participation of advisory providers in Small Business Month delivering networking events, webinars, with a focus on recognising small business success and capabilities.
    • A robust performance evaluation framework, under a regular cadence, driven by small businesses’ review of program effectiveness and the establishment of an Industry Reference Panel to provide independent guidance on small business capability needs, program alignment, digital delivery channels, and any changes required to ensure the services continue to deliver high value and the program remains modern and fit-for-purpose 
  2. Embed the new advisory program in the Service NSW Business Bureau to leverage its scale and networks to connect small businesses with services and programs across government.
  3. Launch the new advisory services through a phased approach, commencing with initial services providing core support later in 2026, and expanding to full implementation and additional support for priority groups in first quarter 2027.

1.6    Recommended advisory model

  • The proposed model prioritises business capability building and resilience by delivering targeted support at high-impact stages of the business lifecycle across NSW. 
  • It is proposed that the budget allocation comprises in total $37M over 4 years, with $7M for 2026/27 given the anticipated start date being September 2026 and $10M for the following three years.
  • The delivery model provides fee-free support to small businesses from advisors with strong business skills, delivered by external providers, comprising:
    • core service offering of 1:1 advisory – a state-wide service accessible to all NSW small businesses, allocated through a tiered needs-based approach, including additional support to priority industries (construction and hospitality), cohorts (Aboriginal, multicultural, and women) and regional businesses
    • events and networking – to support learning, and local connection and peer support on key topics, including in partnership with complementary supports from councils, Business Chambers and industry, for example webinars offered to all small businesses by banks on financial management, and TelCos and tech companies on digital and AI capability 
    • digital resources to enable small businesses to self-service from a library of online resources which can be accessed any time
  • AI tools – phased in over 4 years to support more tailored and effective engagement with advisory services, initially including a Business Needs Assessment tool to help businesses prepare for 1:1 advisor sessions, and a navigator tool to personalise access to online resources, with additional AI tools developed in consultation with industry 
  • The Service NSW Business Bureau would serve as a central access point, supporting referral by Business Concierges and other Agency programs, developing partnership arrangements to connect advisory program customers with complementary supports provided by local councils, Business Chambers and industry and hosting the diagnostic tool and online resources.
  • The services will be delivered through a phased roll out, including an initial phase to rapidly deploy core advisory services, followed by a scale up and expansion phase delivering the full-service model with broader reach, partnerships and digital capability. The introduction of AI tools will be driven by their utility for small business and governed by the NSW Government AI Assessment Framework to manage risks to data integrity, privacy and security. 
  • The model aims to improve business capability, confidence and resilience, strengthening economic outcomes for small businesses and the broader NSW economy.

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Last published: 29 August 2026