Australia and New Zealand Bank has announced a new partnership with the Australian Institute of Management, to offer courses on financial management for small business owners in Australia.

Australia's fourth largest lender is hoping that if it can establish a bond with SME owners at the grass roots, they will remain loyal customers as they grow their profit margins. The courses are A$295 (US$309), however ANZ customers will receive a discount of A$100 (so A$195 for ANZ customers).

The partnership follows research conducted by ANZ on the major issues and challenges faced by small business owners, and their desired learning opportunities. Cost management was identified as the number one challenge faced by over a third of small business owners, with 28 per cent identifying the area of financial management as their desired learning opportunity.

Managing in a tough economic climate was identified by a quarter of respondents as an issue which needed better understanding. The research was based on a survey of around 500 of ANZ’s small business customers and was used solely to inform the development of the ‘Business Owner Program’.

Nick Reade, ANZ general manager, small business said: “Our research tells us small business owners need help in certain areas, from cost management, to creating a productive culture, and building business resilience – which is why we’ve partnered with AIM to develop courses that cater specifically to these areas."

"These same owners also told us they’re time poor, so we’ve worked with AIM to make sure the courses are available via webinar, in addition to a traditional face-to-face setting,” Reade said.

The research highlighted that just over 40 per cent of business owners have not attended business training courses in the last two years with the key reason, at 35 per cent, being a lack of time to attend.

David Wakeley, chief executive of AIM in NSW & ACT, the regions where the new drive will be launched, said: “We recognise how important the small business sector is to the future success of the Australian economy and are committed to supporting small businesses in developing skills to assist them better to grow their business."

It is the latest addition to ANZ's 'Small Business Hub’, an online resource centre that gives small business owners tips, tools and resources. Members can connect with the community of bloggers and other small business owners, and through ‘ANZ Business Insights’, an innovative site that gives retailers access to reports on sales patterns, turnover and customer insights, based on merchant data collected from credit and debit card transactions processed through ANZ merchant systems and ANZ cards in other systems.

The training courses will be offered face-to-face in Sydney and Canberra as well as via
webinars nationally.