According to a new survey by the Verband der Vereine Creditreform e.V. the financial resources of small and medium-sized entities in Germany are still inadequate. Although the number of underfunded companies (an equity/balance sheet total ratio of less than 0.1) has fallen by 7.3 percent to 29.3 percent, the number of soundly financed companies (equity/balance sheet total ratio above 0.3) has not increased. It has, on the contrary, slightly fallen by 0.1 percent now standing at 22.1 percent.
The figure for bad debts exceeding one percent in proportion to turnover is declining. Whereas in autumn last year 18.5 percent of companies were faced with such bad debts, their number has currently fallen to 15.2 percent. The amount of companies not having do deal with bad debts at all is currently 15.4 percent as compared to 14.4 percent in the autumn 2005. 