61% of small business owners still mix personal and business accounts

The number that sums up a quiet problem

Sebrae's Small Business Financial Habits survey (Brazil) shows 61% of small business owners still pay business expenses out of their personal account. It's not a tool or technology problem — it's a habit, and it's the kind of habit that distorts every financial decision built on top of it.

A business that mixes both accounts doesn't actually know, in practice, how much it really earns, because part of its revenue and cost is diluted inside personal transactions nobody categorizes properly.

Why this habit costs more than it looks

Without a clear separation, it becomes impossible to calculate real margin per product or service, decide whether to take on credit, or even file taxes correctly — the accountant has to manually reconstruct the separation, which eats time (and fees) every month. It also gets harder to prove business income for financing, since the statement mixes grocery spending with supplier spending.

How to break the habit without turning it into a big project

Three steps solve most of the problem: open a separate bank account just for the business, even a free digital one — the cost of opening it is lower than the cost of continuing to mix accounts. Then set a fixed monthly "owner's draw" amount that the owner withdraws from the business for personal use, instead of pulling a variable amount whenever needed. And move every supplier payment, rent, and operating expense to come out of the business account, not the personal one, starting next month.

Where Diglion comes in

Diglion helps small businesses structure the separation between personal and business finances, building the reliable financial data foundation that every growth decision depends on.

Sources consulted

• Sebrae, Pesquisa Hábitos Financeiros dos Pequenos Negócios, cited in payments market coverage, retrieved 2026-07-13.