International Journal of Research and Review Vol.7; Issue: 4; April 2020 Website: www.ijrrjournal.com Research Paper E-ISSN: 2349-9788; P-ISSN: 2454-2237 International Journal of Research and Review (ijrrjournal.com) 123 Vol.7; Issue: 4; April 2020 Characteristics of Entrepreneurship and Cost Management towards Income Growth of SMEs in Medan-North Sumatera, Indonesia Dwi Saraswati Universitas Pembangunan Pance Budi, Department of Accounting, Faculty of Social Sciences, Medan, North Sumatera, Indonesia ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to examine whether entrepreneurial characteristics and cost management are related to income growth. The population of this study is small and medium enterprises (SMEs), through a quota sampling technique, a sample unit drawn from a population with specific characteristics up to the expected number of 217 respondents.Data were analyzed using the SEM-PLS approach with a series of tests, analyzing the Structural Model (Inner Model), Measurement Model (Outer Model) and hypothesis testing.The results of this study found that the characteristics of enterprises have a strong impact on income growth. The more positive characteristics of enterprises, the more helpful it is for entrepreneurs to increase their income. Entrepreneur characteristics measured from several aspects of income-generating practices. Likewise, cost management has an impact on increasing SMEs' income. Inability to provide reliable cost management, or delay in doing so, the potential and opportunities available will not be optimal. Even in the long run, this will lead to two extreme axes, business continuity will be hampered and the risk of failure if the business owner chooses to exit the current market, and prefers to invest in fixed-income instruments, which is theoretically lower. Entrepreneurial awareness that goes back to cost management needs good support, and the methods planned to realize it must be the right method Keywords: Characteristics, Entrepreneurs, Cost Management, Income Growth, Partial Least Squares INTRODUCTION The current era of 4.0 has been marked by the rapid growth of the business reflected by the rising volume of inter- country trade. The growth of a country is indicated by the high participation of the people in the economy. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics data, the high unemployment rate in Indonesia is nationally reflected by higher education graduates but has the potential to increase unemployment by up to 0.82%. The bad news for educational institutions should be able to create graduates who are ready to work in the community. The higher the unemployment rate will certainly worsen the national economy, especially in Medan, Indonesia. This is obviously a very depressing situation, given the plentiful nature of Indonesia's natural resources but on the other hand, society seems unable and unwilling to manage the resources of that nature to improve their quality of life. As a result, most of Indonesia's quality is still far from the well-being of every person on earth. One way to improve the economy is to grow the entrepreneurial spirit. The prosperity of society today is of concern to not only the Government but also the businessmen. The best way to do that is to create as many jobs as possible for people to earn an income that covers their every need. Thus the existence of such income is expected to increase their well-being. The growth of Indonesia's small to medium- sized enterprises actually has great potential for rapid population growth. This should be