SUMMARY
In EU governments, there is widespread concern of the current trends in small businesses. Their importance in generating wealth and employment justifies the adoption of economic measures to foster their development and durability. Experience shows that few European micro-enterprises are handed on to a second generation of owners and almost none to a third.Moreover, in times of crisis, the notion that micro-enterprises (including self-employed or businesspeople with no employees) should become the first link in economic recovery and employment generation appears recurrently.This paper studies the distinguishing features of such companies in a Spanish province through a descriptive statistical analysis of the basic data and ratios in their accounting statements.