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2.2 Access to Finance for SMEs in the EU%u017daneta Lacov%u00e1 n Learning outcomes: The aim of the training is to prepare students to find relevant financialresources for their value-creating activity. It sets out a comprehensivesystem of financial policies and instruments to support smaller businesses(SMEs) with the most appropriate sources and types of financing at eachstage of their lives.After participating of this training, students should be able to obtain andmanage the necessary financial resources to turn their idea into action,find support to help them take advantage of an opportunity to createvalue (for example, advisor or consultancy services, peer or mentorsupport), and monitor relevant trends and see how they handle threatsand new opportunities to create value. n Keywords:access to finance, bank loan, venture capital, business angels,crowdfundingIntroduction Traditionally, large established firms are assumed to have greater access to thefunding they need via the financial markets. Large companies can have a sourceof equity via initial public offerings, shareholder equity, or new equity offeringsfrom already listed firms. They also have better access to another source ofdebt financing via the corporate bond market. On the other hand, the financingof small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including micro-firms, andsimilar ventures would struggle to attract large-scale traditional capital.However, the majority of firms in the euro area are SMEs. These enterprisesaccount for a major share of euro area turnover and employment.To have a better knowledge of companies%u2019 access to finance, the Europeaninstitutions monitor the development via SAFE, the survey on the access tofinance of enterprises. Since 2008, the European Commission (EC) and theEuropean Central Bank (ECB) have collaborated on the survey on the accessto finance of enterprises. The survey provides information on the latestdevelopments in the financial situation of enterprises, and documents trends inthe need for and availability of external financing. The survey results are broken742 European Entrepreneurship