A recent report, published in November 2014 by Intuit (www.intuit.com), in partnership with Decipher Market Research, based on a survey of 500 small business owners that was designed to uncover common challenges that small businesses in the U.S. face as they start and grow, noted that a large percentage of small business owners struggle with financial literacy. The survey consisted of 34 percent of respondents who were one-person operations, 52 percent who had two to 10 employees, and 14 percent who had 11 to 50 employees.

The survey found that, while 59 percent of respondents considered themselves "completely" or "very" financially literate, 41 percent considered themselves only "somewhat" or "not very" financially literate.

Interestingly, the majority of the respondents were not young, uneducated, inexperienced business owners. Just over half (51 percent) were 45 years or older, 36 percent were 30 to 44, and only 13 percent were 18 to 29. In addition, 57 percent had a college or post-college degree, while 30 percent had some college, and only 12 percent had only a high school diploma. Just over half (51 percent) had been in business more than three years, 33 percent had been in business one to three years, and only 16 percent had been in business one year or less.