FreshBooks announces data-sharing partnership with Ontario government to provide insights into how small businesses make money during COVID-19
Toronto, CANADA, July 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – FreshBooks, a Canadian cloud accounting software with paying customers in over 100 countries, announced that it has joined a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Government of Ontario to share data and insights on small business recovery trends. MoU will help small businesses and entrepreneurs by using FreshBooks data to help identify weaknesses and gaps in government programs to aid decision-making and policy development timely and impactful. The data, which represents FreshBooks’ vast business owner base in Ontario, will be anonymized and aggregated before being shared with the provincial government.
“Access to timely, quality data makes the difference when it comes to making the right decisions both in government and in business. “We’re excited to share our lenses and insights and play an important part in this next phase of small business recovery,” said Paul Cowan, Marketing Manager at FreshBooks. “We look forward to providing this valuable insight to Ontario policymakers on what is happening in the small business sector.”
Recent insights from FreshBooks data include:
- COVID-19 has exacerbated the stressors faced by small business owners, especially for women-owned businesses. Women-owned businesses in Canada take almost twice as long to recover from financial failures brought on by COVID-19 compared to male-owned businesses.
- Some industries have experienced significant growth, such as Construction and Trade saw a 10% increase in new customers Compared to other industries, others have had a harder time navigating the pandemic.
- Ontario-based businesses saw an average of more than 10% drop in revenue during the province’s most recent stay-at-home order start in early April.*
FreshBooks’ data-sharing partnership with the government of Ontario to provide advocacy and support, and to shed light on how small businesses are impacted by policy changes and events seismic. In September 2020, the company also launched Your Voice, a virtual lunchtime roundtable series that connects FreshBooks customers directly with policymakers from all sectors and levels. politic. The series provides a forum for small business owners to share their views and experiences directly with those who have the power to make changes that affect their lives and businesses.
Earlier this month, FreshBooks rolled out the ability for Canadian customers to pay for their subscriptions in Canadian currency with clarity and transparency. pricing plan. Following a philosophy built for owners, these new services aim to meet the growing and unique needs of Canada’s small business ecosystem. Learn more about the newly launched Canadian pricing site: https://www.freshbooks.com/en-ca/pricing.
* This data point was calculated using proprietary data from FreshBooks between April 5, 2021 and May 31, 2021. It analyzes the Total Revenue metric for businesses worldwide. part-time and part-time in Ontario.
About FreshBooks
Fresh books is changing the way business owners manage their books. Owner-preferred accounting platform, loved by businesses in over 100 countries, with an easy-to-use approach to financial management, invoicing, payments, and guest engagement row. FreshBooks, known for its award-winning 10x Stevie customer support, serves customers of all sizes from offices in Canada, Croatia, Mexico, the Netherlands and the United States.
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Katey Townshend FreshBooks pr@freshbooks.com Megan Shay FreshBooks pr@freshbooks.com
https://financialpost.com/globe-newswire/freshbooks-announces-data-sharing-partnership-with-ontario-government-to-provide-insight-into-how-small-businesses-fared-during-covid-19 | FreshBooks announces data-sharing partnership with Ontario government to provide insights into how small businesses make money during COVID-19