Financial aid of over two billion CZK for consultancy, marketing, and training for SMEs has little added value

Press Release on audit No 20/20 – 31 May 2021


The SAO examined the financial aid granted to SMEs for consultancy, marketing, and training between 2015 and 2020. It also focused on aid for the support of innovation in the fight against COVID-19. The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) allocated over CZK 2.3 billion for all these purposes by January 2021. The audit revealed that only one per mille out of the total number of SMEs in the Czech Republic received support for consultancy, marketing and training. The impact on the sector will thus be limited. Moreover, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will not be able to evaluate the benefits of the support, including the fight against COVID-19. In the internal projects of the agency CzechTrade designed to help entrepreneurs, up to half of the money went to the agency itself.

Aid for consultancy, marketing and training for SMEs is paid by the Ministry of Industry and Trade from the Operational Programme ‘Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Competitiveness’. The money should help businesses improve their competitiveness at the start of their business, facilitate access to foreign markets and increase training opportunities for employees.

By the beginning of 2021, only one per mille out of more than one million SMEs in the Czech Republic had received financial aid. Thus, it cannot be expected that the money disbursed will have a significant positive impact on the sector. Moreover, the audit showed that the aid did not affect the objectives set by the MoIT. For example, in the case of financial aid for consultancy services, the indicator targets increased before the launch of the first call. This had been prepared by the MoIT for four years. The Ministry also did not examine how enterprises used the consultancy services or whether they had an impact on their business.

On the other hand, in the case of marketing aid, the target indicators have steadily deteriorated since 2015, despite an amount paid which exceeded CZK 700 million as of January 2021. It is not clear whether and how this aid helped SMEs to increase their exports.

Financial aid for the training of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises was specifically intended for the creation of training centres. The MoIT did not monitor whether the enterprises were using the training centres for their intended purpose. However, if the enterprises do not meet the conditions for receiving financial aid, they are obliged to return it. It was only during SAO’s audit that the MoIT introduced the obligation for enterprises to provide an overview of the extent to which training centres are used. The enterprises did not show much interest in financial aid, so the MoIT gradually transferred 90% of the earmarked funds to other programmes.

The audit also pointed out that for CzechTrade’s in-house projects almost CZK 65 million went to the agency’s expenditure, representing almost half of the reimbursements for these projects. As part of these projects, the agency was to ensure that enterprises and designers participate in trade fairs and exhibitions abroad. The MoIT neither monitored the benefits of these services for individual enterprises nor if they helped them enter foreign markets.

The SAO also examined the funds allocated to programmes linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. These were designed to help SMEs develop innovation, materials, and technologies to fight the disease. Examples include the production of protective equipment, the disposal of infectious waste, or the sharing of knowledge with the research community. The MoIT will not be able to assess the benefits of this support and how it has helped to fight the pandemic. It only monitors whether the entrepreneur has acquired the technology in question with the allocated funds, or how many enterprises have collaborated with research institutions.

Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office

print the page