The Center for Small Business at California State University, Sacramento, is accepting requests from companies in the Sacramento metropolitan area for free management assistance in the coming academic year.

The center, part of the university's College of Business Administration, provides management support each year to more than 100 small businesses seeking help in virtually all operational areas other than taxation, law or loan packaging.

Assistance often includes business plans, marketing and related operational issues. Participants can seek help either because they are having serious difficulties or merely because they want an outside review of operations and strategies.

Clients of the center range from mom-and-pop operations to those prominent within the Sacramento community.

Services are made possible due to the support of a number of area businesses, including local banks, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, and Resource Capital, said center Director Dennis H. Tootelian.