SUMMARY
The aim of the article is to evaluate the level and diversification of the cost-effectiveness of selected financial support instruments for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the European Union (EU). Based on a literature review, 2 cognitive gaps were identified and 4 research questions were formulated. The realisation of the objective required the conducting of empirical analyses on a sample of 6,495 SMEs from 6 countries of the EU which were beneficiaries of 9 financial instruments. The obtained results indicate that the schemes under study show high variability of cost-effectiveness that depends on the type and configuration of support instruments, their scope of impact and the level of economic development of the EU countries.