Payday Super Is a Timing Problem. Here’s Where Small Businesses Can Find Room | Finlease

For years, super was a quarterly bill. You knew it was coming. You planned for it. And in between, a lot of businesses quietly used that money as working capital.

Since 1 July, that gap is gone. Under Payday Super, employers now pay super alongside wages, every pay run. What a business owes hasn’t changed. When it leaves the account has.

For many small businesses, that’s a bigger shift than it sounds like and to make matters worse, it is also affecting their clients who are ultimately their debtors who they rely on to also pay on time.

What the latest research found

The ScotPac SME Growth Index, released on 28 September 2026, draws on interviews with 727 Australian SMEs turning over between $1M and $20M. Almost three in four (74%) said they either weren’t fully prepared for Payday Super or expected their cash flow to suffer.

The smaller the business, the harder the hit:

Annual turnover	Expecting a negative cash flow impact
$1M to $5M	83%
$5M to $20M	64%

Over two thirds of SMEs said they were unprepared for paying super at the same time as wages. Among smaller SMEs, up to 78% hadn’t acted ahead of the change.

Those numbers describe a lot of tradies, transport and civil operators and small manufacturers. Businesses with crews to pay, gear to run, and customers who pay on 30, 60 or sometimes 90 days.

Why it hurts more than the dollar amount suggests

The super bill is the same size it always was. The problem is the rhythm.

Money comes in when customers pay. Wages and super now go out on a fixed fortnightly or weekly cycle, no matter what’s landed. When those two rhythms don’t line up, the gap has to be filled from somewhere. Usually, it’s the cash that was earmarked for suppliers, stock, or other expenses.

As ScotPac CFO David Kirwan put it, every pay run can now reduce the funds available for suppliers, inventory, equipment and investment.

Beware the KNOCK-ON effect, as if your company is affected, chances are your clients may also be and that could result in slower payments to you further compounding the problem.

Step one: map the money in against the money out

Before looking at any finance, get clear on where the pressure points actually are. Sit down with your accountant and lay out, week by week:

1. When customer payments typically arrive
2. When wages and super go out
3. When other big commitments fall: BAS, rent, supplier accounts, loan repayments, rego and insurance

This does two things. It shows you exactly which weeks are tight. And it helps tell the difference between a temporary timing gap, which finance can often help bridge, and a deeper trading issue, which needs a different conversation entirely.

Step two: look at what’s tied up in assets

This is where a finance broker can genuinely help.

Mark O’Donoghue, who founded Finlease in 1989, has a principle he comes back to often: you never use short-term cash to pay for long-term assets. A truck, an excavator or a fleet of Utes will earn for years. Paying for them out of this quarter’s cash could substantially reduce the liquidity of a company & with super now going out every pay run, that matters more than it used to.

There are a few places to look.

Gear you’re about to buy. Financing new equipment or vehicles, rather than paying cash, keeps working capital in the business for payroll and suppliers. Repayments are spread across the working life of the asset, which is when it’s earning.

Gear you’ve already paid cash for. In many cases, assets bought outright can be refinanced so the cash goes back into the business. One sole trader we worked with paid cash for a new Toyota Hilux. Seventeen months later his accountant flagged that it had drained his working capital. Several lenders said the vehicle was too old to refinance. Our broker found a Tier 1 lender that would, at a new car rate. 70% of the original outlay went back into the business, and it settled in one week.

Finance you already have. Repayments structured shorter or higher than they need to be can squeeze monthly cash flow. Term length, balloon payments and seasonal repayment patterns can all be looked at. Mark calls it the Vegemite sandwich problem: (having to eat Vegemite sandwiches now only to dine on steak later) starving the business now to save a little later isn’t always the smart trade.

Step three: bridge the gap itself

Sometimes the assets aren’t the issue. The business is trading well and customers are paying. They’re just paying on 30 or 60 days, and the wages pay run won’t wait.

Where a genuine timing gap exists, a business loan or working capital facility can carry the business across it. Drawn when receipts are slow. Paid down when they land. The point is to keep suppliers paid and the next job funded while the money catches up.

If you’ve already fallen behind. Some business owners will read this with super or BAS already overdue. If you’re carrying ATO debt right now, you’re not alone. Overdue tax and super get more expensive the longer they sit, and not only do they result in the ATO forcing a unusually short term to clear the debt, the interest the ATO charges is not deductible. In many cases, an alternate debt facility can pay out what’s owed and replace it with a set repayment the business can plan around as well as have the interest cost now deductible. Talk to your accountant and a Finlease broker about whether it fits your situation.

What the right structure looks like

A facility should fit the operating cycle and the repayment capacity, so it eases pressure rather than adding to it.

That’s why it helps to talk to a broker with access to the full market. Finlease works with 40+ lenders, including the major banks at Tier 1 pricing and specialists for situations the banks won’t touch. Around 80% of what we place is with Tier 1 lenders. The rate is on every quote. The fees are on every quote. So is the total cost of the loan.

Already have a finance quote or facility?

We’ll compare it for free. It won’t affect your credit score at the comparison stage. And if you’re already getting a good deal, we’ll tell you.

Payday Super isn’t going away. But a squeeze on timing is something you can plan for. It starts with knowing where the pressure points are, and making sure your cash is working where you need it most.

Talk to a Finlease broker about your options. Get a quote.