Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are important engines of growth, jobs and social cohesion. However, the creation, survival and growth of SMEs is often hampered by access to finance, a challenge that is at the core of this Scoreboard on Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs.

This chapter provides the users of the Scoreboard on SME and entrepreneurship finance with tools to interpret the data. It introduces the methodology and presents the core indicators used in the country profiles. The chapter explains the criteria for the selection of indicators and discusses the limitations to cross-country comparability. It highlights areas for advancement and concludes with recommendations to improve SME finance data so as to enable better cross-country comparisons in the future.

This chapter analyses trends in SME and entrepreneurship finance for participating countries, based on data collected in the Scoreboard on financing SMEs and entrepreneurs and information from demand-side surveys. An overview of the global business environment and economic prospects sets the framework for the analysis of trends in lending to SMEs and equity financing over the period 2007 to 2010. The pre-crisis (2007) year serves as a benchmark to assess changes in SMEs’ access to finance during the crisis (2008-09) and the recovery (2010). The chapter concludes with an overview of government policy responses to improve SMEs’ and entrepreneurs’ access to finance during the crisis.

This chapter describes the Basel III reforms to the global financial system and discusses the possible impacts on lending to SMEs and entrepreneurs. Particular attention is given to the impact that the risk weighting system for assets could have on lending to SMEs. The discussion mainly draws from early evaluations and forecasts developed by countries and international institutions. The perspectives of experts from countries participating in the OECD Scoreboard on SME and entrepreneurship finance are also presented.

Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs: An OECD Scoreboard provides a framework to monitor trends in SMEs’ and entrepreneurs’ access to finance – at the country level and internationally – and a tool to support the formulation and evaluation of policies. This framework is currently built around 13 core indicators, which tackle specific questions related to SMEs’ and entrepreneurs’ access to finance. At the country level, this framework allows indicators to be examined as a set and to draw a more coherent picture of SME access to finance, governments’ responses and the impact of those responses on SME survival.

Surveys represent an important source of information and data for monitoring the state of financing available and used by SMEs and entrepreneurs, as well as for assessing appropriateness and effectiveness of government policies in this area. A large number of supply-side and demand-side surveys are conducted at the national level by government agencies, national statistical offices, central banks and, in some cases, business associations and private organisations.