There is no single definitive or universally accepted definition of a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME).For statistical purposes, in the National Statistics publication 'Business Population Estimates for the UK and Regions' the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) define SMEs as those businesses with fewer than 250 employees.However, there are two further definitions used in the UK and Europe, which are as follows:1. EU definition of an SMEIn EU law an SME is defined as an enterprise with fewer than 250 employees and with a turnover of less than €50 million or alternatively a balance sheet of less than €43 million.2. UK law definition of an SME companyIn the UK, the Companies Act 2006 defines a SME for the purpose of accounting requirements. According to this a small company is one that meets at least two of the following conditions:"(i) annual turnover of not more than £6.5 million""(ii) a balance sheet total of not more than £3.26 million""(iii) not more than 50 employees."A medium-sized company one that meets at least two of the following conditions:"(i) annual turnover of not more than £25.9 million""(ii) a balance sheet total of not more than £12.9 million""(iii) not more than 250 employees."BIS has not made an assessment of the usefulness of the term SME for categorising businesses. The European Commission has commissioned an independent technical review of the coherence and effectiveness of the EU definition. The review is due to be published in October and the Government will fully participate in the discussion of its findings.In BIS, the further disaggregation of SMEs into micro (0 to nine employees), small (fewer than 50 employees) and medium (50 to 249 employees) helps us identify the specific needs of these different groups of businesses, and develop policy accordingly.