Credit defaults do not concern most Australian businesses despite traces of US subprime debt lingering in international markets, according to credit insurer Atradius.

Senior managers surveyed by Atradius at an Australian Institute of Management briefing are preoccupied with skills shortages, competition and retaining "disenfranchised customers" rather than fraud and debtor problems.

Atradius Australia and New Zealand Managing Director David Huey says the results are curious, if not unsurprising, given Australia's consistent growth over the past decade.

More than half of respondents named skill shortages as their biggest risk (51%), with competition (37%) and disenfranchised customers (18%) also priorities for managers.

Only 5% of respondents thought debt defaults were a big risk.

Mr Huey says more than 60% of respondents reported stable or decreasing bad debts over the past five years.

"However, the subprime mortgage crisis should be a lesson for Australian businesses that customer bankruptcies and defaults can hit business very hard, can occur at any time and can have a knock-on effect as one bankruptcy leads to another. Business needs to be prepared at all times."

Most respondents believe insuring against bad debt is important, yet more than a quarter have no risk evaluation policy and nearly a third carry no insurance against customer insolvency.

"While the overwhelming proportion of respondents said it was important to insure against bad debts, many don't - and it is clear that some Australian businesses are not taking risk mitigation seriously," Mr Huey said.