Companies four North American Industry Classification System sectors and one subsector can now be bigger and still be classified as “small” businesses under new rules from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The businesses have to be in the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting; Finance and Insurance; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation; and Support Services for Mining classifications.

The revised standards reflect changes in marketplace conditions and public comments that SBA received to the proposed rules, the federal agency says.

The new size standards will let more businesses obtain or retain small business status. It will also give federal agencies a larger pool of small businesses from which to choose for their procurement programs.

It will make more small businesses eligible for SBA’s loan programs.

Under the changes, thousands of additional firms will qualify as “small” and become eligible for SBA’s loan and federal procurement programs.

The SBA’s action is drawing criticism from a small business lobby.

“We don’t need more federal money going to larger corporations,” says Lloyd Chapman, president of the American Small Business League of Petaluma.

“If anything, the size standards should be reduced, he says, noting that the vast majority of companies in the U.S. have 20 or fewer employees.

He says the larger sizes are not meant to help small businesses but rather the federal government which is supposed to make a certain percentage of purchases from small businesses.

“It makes it easier for them to meet the small business goal if they increase the size standard. This is just a loophole they’re creating for themselves,” Mr. Chapman says. “It’s just another example of how the SBA is one of the most anti-small business organizations in the country.”