Businesses appear unconcerned about the prospect of a dull and boring federal budget next week, but they aren't thrilled about the state of the economy either.
Forty nine per cent of businesses expect there will be no impact from the May budget, while only 15 per cent are predicting it will have a negative impact, the latest Dun and Bradstreet's Business Expectations survey shows.
In recent weeks, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has told Australians to expect a "dull" budget, a contrast to last year's budget, which was a blow to business and consumer confidence.
Dun & Bradstreet director Steve Brown said the lack of good news about the economy this year has given businesses a reality check.
"While general conditions in Australia remain sound, it has become clear to many businesses that 2015 will not be the year when the economy breaks out from its inertia," he said.
"There is now a clear cooling in expectations that we expect will continue this year as businesses pull back their earlier optimism.
The Dun and Bradstreet's index measuring business expectations for the September quarter has fallen to 14.9 points, down from 20.7 for the June quarter and 19.5 points for the same time in 2014.
"Weak demand has been reported by businesses as the biggest barrier to growth this year, while consumer confidence was rated as the issue most likely to influence their operations in the third quarter of the year, the D&B report said.
Dun & Bradstreet economic adviser Stephen Koukoulas said conditions for businesses are in good shape but businesses are cautious about that continuing.
"The softening in a range of business expectations is continuing, with firms scaling back their outlook for sales, employment, capital investment and selling prices," he said.
"Making this picture a little more problematic is that actual results for these indicators have fallen short of businesses' earlier upbeat expectations."
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