A Practical Approach to the Market Analysis Part of SME-Related Ex-Ante Assessments

For the support of financial instruments in the 2014-2020 programming period ex-ante assessments have effectively become a mandatory prerequisite, and the main elements required are given by the Common provisions regulation (CPR). Guidance to managing authorities is available through the ex-ante assessment methodology published by the European Commission. Since 2013, the European Investment Fund (EIF) has performed small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) related ex-ante assessments and we have published, for the market analysis part, “Guidelines for SME Access to Finance Market Assessments (GAFMA)”. Both guidance documents provide a toolbox of good practices to managing authorities. It is useful to follow a standardised approach that is in line with good practice and has taken into consideration relevant legal requirements. If surveys are performed, the number of questions should be limited to those that are essential to obtain the information needed for the analysis. Whenever a financing gap is quantified, the assumptions, on which the estimations are based, should be made transparent and the results should be interpreted with the necessary care. In addition, different tools should be applied in parallel when performing a market assessment.