Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are an essential part of everycountry’s economic system. The quality of the business environment plays an importantrole in this regard. The aim of the paper was to define and quantify important public sectorfactors influencing the quality of the business environment in the SME segment and tocompare the intensity of the defined factors between the Czech Republic (CR) and theSlovak Republic (SR). In regards to the defined aim, a survey-based research wasconducted with enterprises operating in the SME segment. 312 enterprises in CR and 329enterprises in SR were approached during this research. The scientific hypotheses wereverified using the methods of Pearson statistics. The evaluation of political factors is quitenegative in both countries. Only 15% of Czech and 20% of Slovak entrepreneurs positivelyevaluated the level of legislation in business. Both Czech and Slovak entrepreneurs seestate’s support of export quite positively. Only 12% of Czech and 22% of Slovakentrepreneurs positively evaluated the administrative burden on enterprises. Entrepreneursin both countries claim that the state is unable to provide qualified workforce forbusinesses. Most significant differences between the two countries were found in theevaluation of state bureaucracy which the Slovak entrepreneurs evaluated more positivelythan their Czech counterparts. The results of the research show the need to deal withurgent issues, or create a better system of public factors influencing the businessenvironment.