Launched in June 2022, the BDO Business Performance Index (previously known as the BDO Business Wellbeing Index) is a leading biannual study across a market-representative sample of New Zealand business leaders and owners, exploring the priority issues impacting their business performance. Each report shares the latest insights, market commentary, and practical tips for navigating the most commonly raised concerns and challenges faced by business leaders, across nearly 20 key business performance drivers. Findings are reported at a national and regional level, as well as for the mid-market and a range of key sectors.
Capturing responses from over 1,000 business leaders annually, across two 6 monthly waves, the Index is New Zealand's largest survey of its kind - and a Gold category winner at the 2024 Research Effectiveness Awards.
As advisers to over 20,000 businesses across Aotearoa, at BDO we are in a unique position to see the impacts of a broad range of factors – including financial, economic, regulatory, environmental and social. The BDO Business Performance Index was born out of growing observations among our BDO Partners of the particular impact that financial concerns can have on business leaders and their businesses. Most importantly, the Index is our opportunity to provide practical tips for the business leader community; helping them to be best placed to navigate the key challenges of running a business, particularly financial concerns, and in turn promoting stronger business performance outcomes.
Our latest BDO Business Performance Index provides timely insights on the big issues facing business leaders, now and over the coming six months. The May 2026 Index highlights that more businesses are showing signs of improved underlying financial resilience, but their overall business performance positivity remains weighed down by economic and political uncertainty - handbraking potential near-term growth and investment. Learn more about current business leader sentiment and the common challenges business leaders are facing right now.
The biannual digital survey is conducted by an independent research agency. More than 500 respondents are canvassed in each survey wave, spanning a wide range of industries and business stages, based on a market-representative sample of New Zealand’s business sector. The survey targets business leaders and owners (anyone who was not an owner, General Manager, CEO or Director is excluded from results). For the purpose of the report, we refer to all respondents generically as “business leaders”.
Respondents are asked to share their sentiment regarding overall business performance and a wide range of specific factors which impact this - both over the past two weeks and looking ahead to six months’ time.