According to a survey by Dun & Bradstreet, almost 7,000 Australian companies are close to collapsing in 2009, up by 12% YoY. It said that firms in the finance, insurance and real estate sector are the most at risk.

Mr Christine Christian CEO of Dun & Bradstreet said that the risk of insolvency has surged because businesses are not paying enough attention to their cash flow levels. He added that "Many companies have been relying on cheap funding from banks and they have taken their eye off the basic fundamentals of business."

He further added that "That is what's emerging from the latest research, many businesses are just not managing cash flow sufficiently."

(Sourced from www.abc.net.au)