If you are a small and medium-size enterprise (SME) owner or an SME accountant, there is little chance you don’t know this: starting a new business is though, money is scarce and competition is merciless.
To stimulate growth and strengthen SMEs’ competitiveness, the EU runs several financing programmes that can benefit small businesses, such as Horizon Europe.
We feature these different funding programmes in our factsheet “How to secure financing for SMEs – opportunities in EU funding”. The budgets dedicated to these programmes are generous, but the application processes can be an overwhelming task.
With specific knowledge of EU funding processes and a deep understanding of SMEs’ needs, accountants can help entrepreneurs make the most of what the EU has to offer: secure the funding that is right for your business.
SMEs make up 99% of the EU business landscape, and yet within the last 10 years, 8 out of 10 have closed down. There are many reasons why businesses struggle to take off and stay afloat to end up failing in the following years. But in the case of smaller businesses, it is primarily due to their lack of financial resources. In 2017-2018, profitability and liquidity were named as the top 2 business challenges faced by start-ups.
According to the European Commission annual report, 9 out of 10 EU SMEs are micros, meaning they work with less than 10 employees. With such limited resources, finding customers and skilled workforce while complying with regulation is an everyday challenge.
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