Small business - what is it? Criteria and description of a small business

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

A significant percentage of Russian businesses are represented in the small private enterprise category. This, according to many experts, is a typical status for an innovative type of firm, for start-up entrepreneurs. There is also such a category as a medium-sized enterprise. What is the difference? Small business - how many people? What preferences can such a status give in terms of possible measures of state support? Let's take a look at these and related nuances that are typical for the operation of businesses in the status of SMEs.

Criteria for qualifying as an SME

According to Russian law, small and medium enterprises are two different business classes, belonging to which is determined by a number of criteria. Consider those that are typical for companies of the first and second types. Let's start with typically small businesses.

What is a small business organization? In accordance with the norms of the law, these include firms that employ no more than 100 people. The maximum annual revenue of such an enterprise cannot exceed 400 million rubles. Also, the share of owners (legal entities that themselvesthemselves are not small enterprises) can be no more than 25%.

Some experts also point out that small and medium-sized enterprises are a far from exhaustive classification of private firms, which are characterized by a small scale of operation. There are other types of organizations as well. such as micro-enterprises. These include businesses with no more than 15 employees.

We see that SMEs can include businesses that don't seem "small" at all. Still, a turnover close to 400 million rubles is an indicator of the serious scale of the company's activities.

Criteria for medium-sized enterprises

Let's consider what are the criteria for medium enterprises. There are few of them. Regarding the number of staff, the standard prescribed by law is as follows: from 101 to 250 employees. In terms of annual revenue - from 401 million to 1 billion rubles. The difference with the category of small enterprises, as we can see, is significant.

Does it matter what type of activity is carried out in the organization? No. The law in this sense does not contain any delimiting norms. Small and medium enterprises are firms that can be engaged in exactly the same activities, but belong to different classes of organizations only because of the revenue and the size of the staff. The form of ownership is considered similarly. An LLC is a small business, an individual entrepreneur is similar. A joint-stock company is exactly the same. The same rule applies to medium-sized businesses.

Criteria for SMEs: Explanation

Above we considered the criteria,characterizing such categories as medium and small enterprises. It will also be useful to know some features of their correct definition.

If we talk about the size of the staff, it means the average number of employees for the calendar year that precedes the moment the company is researched for inclusion in one category or another. The limit values of figures prescribed in the law are considered inclusive.

Revenue means income from the sale of goods, the performance of work or the provision of services, excluding VAT. In addition, the assets of the firm may be added here, taking into account its book value for the calendar year preceding the study.

New business as an SME

But how do you classify a business into one category or another if you're looking at a newly created organization? A small enterprise, the criteria of which are named above, cannot be applied due to the lack of statistical facts. As well as those that are set for the average. For such cases, there is the following rule. If an organization has just been created, then it can be classified as small or medium if the indicators reflecting the average number of employees, revenue (or in combination with the book value) for the period from the moment when information about the company was entered in the register does not have exceeded the respective limit values. That is, if a company was founded in January, and until August its turnover did not exceed 400 million, and the number of employees - 100 people, then it is a small enterprise. We know the criteria.

The nuances of frame counting

Another important nuance regarding the calculation of the number of employees. Not only contracts drawn up in accordance with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (that is, according to the work book), but also civil law agreements, as well as part-time work, matter. That is, the concept of "staff" in this case is not tied to the legal aspect of formalizing labor relations between the enterprise and employees. The main thing is that the work is carried out legally, and in what specific format - according to the Labor Code or within the framework of civil law agreements, the legislator does not care.

By the way, there is a rule in the legislation according to which contracts for work can be equated to full-fledged labor agreements. For example, if a person works as a contractor under a civil law contract, but every day he goes to the office of the customer company as if to his job, keeps to the schedule and coordinates, say, going on vacation with the management of the organization, then Rostrudnadzor may oblige the company to conclude with such partner a full-fledged labor contract under the Labor Code.

Why does my company need SME status?

Above, we defined the criteria by which a firm can be classified as a small or medium-sized enterprise. Those parameters in question are defined at the legislative level. That is, it is likely that the belonging of firms to one category or another is important from the point of view of certain prospects. Strictly speaking, what is the practical use of the fact that the company has the status of "small enterprise"? Does it provide any privileges? Yes, it is.

The fact is that Russia has a number of federal and regional, as well as municipal programs aimed at supporting businesses for which the form of a small enterprise is a defining criterion. There is a whole direction of state policy in this area. What kind of support measures can be discussed?

Types of support for SMEs

The state policy of the Russian Federation implies a number of benefits if the business is carried out in such a format as a small business. These are measures like:

• preferential tax regimes (we'll look at which ones later);
• simplified standards relating to tax and accounting, statistical type of reporting;
• benefits regarding the procedure for settlements in the field of privatized property;
• giving a special role to small businesses in public procurement;
• assistance in protecting the rights and interests of entrepreneurs when interacting with supervisory authorities;
• financial support for businesses;
• helping businesses develop infrastructure;
• a different kind of measures to make it easier for SMEs to do business.

Who will get the support?

Appropriate business support programs may vary by region (as well as between different municipalities and localities). Much depends on the industry specifics of the business. In some subjects of the federation, greater priority is given to enterprises engaged in the extraction of minerals, in others - to metallurgical companies. In a number of Russian cities there arefunds whose activities are focused on supporting firms engaged in typically innovative activities. In such organizations, the founders of "startups" can find support, the main business idea of which is, as a rule, the creation of completely new market niches based on technologies that have not yet been mastered by anyone.

In practice, assistance to enterprises belonging to the categories of small and medium-sized ones can be provided by both state and municipal authorities, as well as various organizations and funds that are assigned this role. For example, if a business is a small innovative enterprise, this can become a factor in successfully attracting venture capital investments with the assistance of funds with a predominantly state participation.

Main challenges in SMEs

Actually, why do businesses need state support? Is it possible that a successful, albeit small, enterprise is an organization that assumes a certain subsidized activity? What are the main challenges facing SMEs in Russia?

Experts believe that among the most characteristic difficulties is a high tax burden. In addition, businesses lack financial resources. The first problem in practice is expressed mainly in the need to pay large contributions to state funds - PFR, FSS, MHIF for employees. Concerning the second noted difficulty, we are talking about the low availability of cheap loans. Those rates that are set by most Russian banks,too much for many entrepreneurs.

Another difficulty for Russian businessmen is the low availability of land resources and real estate. Many entrepreneurs, as experts find out, are experiencing problems with access to energy infrastructure facilities. Connecting to networks is difficult, tariffs are high. Another problem of private businesses noted by experts is the lack of personnel.

The role of the state in solving business problems

State institutions, according to experts, in general should be interested in the development of small business in Russia. And therefore, various kinds of SME support programs should take into account the need to solve the actual problems in question. In some areas of activity, analysts believe, there are results.

Preferential taxation

First of all, it concerns the very tax burden. In particular, SMEs can take advantage of preferential taxation systems - STS, UTII or patents. Each of these regimes in most cases guarantees a much smaller amount of contributions to the treasury, when compared with the general system. Moreover, some categories of individual entrepreneurs have the right to reduce taxes by the amount of contributions paid to the PFR, MHIF and FSS. And in this case, for many IPs, the corresponding load is minimized. By the way, here we can say about concessions regarding tax and accounting reports. All that many individual entrepreneurs are required to submit to the Federal Tax Service is an annual declaration. requirements for complex bookkeepingthe legislator does not provide documentation for them.

Loans and grants

With loans, of course, more difficult. Even those banks in which the state owns a predominant share in the shares offer loans on terms that are far from desirable. Many businesses are forced to take loans abroad, forming a large external corporate debt. Loan programs at the expense of budgetary resources, according to experts, are rather poorly developed in the Russian Federation.

There are some mechanisms for financial support for businesses through state and municipal grants. However, it is still premature to say that they work on a systematic basis, analysts say. Moreover, the amounts that appear in the relevant support programs, experts believe, will hardly help businesses achieve significant results.

Venture aspect

At the same time, as many analysts believe, businesses in Russia have the opportunity to attract financing not from banks, but from investors. The criterion in this case is quite simple: the main thing is that the business idea matches the ambitions of the entrepreneur and makes a profit. All an investor needs is a return higher than the average bank rate. So that it makes sense to invest in a business, and not transfer cash to a deposit. If a venture investor decides that a particular small innovative enterprise is an example of a combination of a reasonable business idea and a well-thought-out plan for its implementation, then he will gladly invest in it. On terms that probably won'toffer any commercial bank. A small business is an attractive investment for many investors.

SME and HR

Meanwhile, the state also solves the problem with personnel, albeit rather indirectly. We are talking about the popularization of training programs for technical specialists in universities, the development of vocational technical education. All of these activities are largely dependent on the quality of public policy.

At the same time, some experts believe that business itself should also make efforts to improve the overall climate in the business environment. Take the same personnel problem: many enterprises, according to analysts, are increasing their production volume, but at the same time they are not creating new vacant positions. New jobs do not appear, especially those that require the involvement of qualified specialists. Largely for this reason, schoolchildren do not choose production professions, rightly believing that they are not guaranteed a job. In addition, experts believe that not all enterprises pay attention to the problem of increasing labor productivity.