How small is small? That's the question the Small Business Administration is looking to answer as the agency conducts a comprehensive review of its size standards. The regulations determine which businesses are eligible for SBA programs, including loans and federal contracts.

A formal revamp of the standards may not take place for months, but the review has drawn hedged responses from small-business advocacy groups. "We believe that, overall, simplicity is a good thing," says Andrew Langer, manager of regulatory policy for the National Federation of Independent Business. But the NFIB is opposed to the idea of grandfathering in businesses that may lose out under the new rules. The American Small Business League is also against this idea; the advocacy group is pushing to define a small business as one with 100 employees or less.

Small-business classification currently varies by industry, based on the number of employees or revenue. While the most widely used standards are less than 500 employees for manufacturing industries or less than $6 million in annual receipts for nonmanufacturing industries, the SBA employs 37 different standards for determining business size in over 1,100 industries. These different standards explain how a soybean farmer who pulls in $750,000 or less each year and a roofing contractor who makes up to $12 million can both fall under the small business moniker.

SBA officials are quick to point out that nothing is set in stone. The agency, which yanked a proposed simplification of the standards off the table last May after drawing criticism, has been asking small-business owners around the country to weigh in this month on the possible changes. "It is really going to depend on the nature of the comments we get," says Gary Jackson, the SBA's assistant administrator for size standards. "We are not yet committed to issuing a proposal."

Among the issues open for debate:

• Should business size be measured according to receipts?
• Should existing small businesses be exempted from new standards?
• What constitutes a full-time employee?