what is sme

SME stands for small and medium-sized enterprises, which are businesses that maintain revenues, assets, or a number of employees below a certain threshold. The definition of an SME varies by country and organization, but generally, an SME is a small business that has more than 30 employees but less than 250 employees. In the UK, an SME is any business with fewer than 500 employees. The EU defines an SME based on staff headcount, either turnover or balance sheet total, with medium-sized enterprises having less than 250 employees and either a turnover of less than €50 million or a balance sheet total of less than €43 million. SMEs represent 99% of all businesses in the EU.