Issues arising from use of different statistical units in business registers Bongho Choi and Denis Ward

Aims of OECD work To collect and disseminate information on: Statistical units models of international organisations (SNA 93, ISIC Rev. 3, EC Regs) and OECD Member countries. Their application across SBS (including SMEs) and STES collections, especially in the context of business registers. Impact of departures from international standards (how to measure?). Best practices

Aims of Project (cont.) Bring together existing information from a range of sources such as: Eurostat Manual of Business Statistics; International Roundtable on Business; Survey Frames; UN ECE activities.

Statistical Units Covered Enterprise: Concept based on a certain degree of autonomy. Local unit (estab.): Concept based on geographic location. Enterprise group: Concept based on ownership and control. Kind-of-activity unit: Concept devised to improve the homogeneity of statistics regarding economic activity Legal unit: Legal persons whose existence recognised by law (e.g. taxation law)

Statistical units Covered Enterprise Local unit Enterprise group KAU Legal unit Business registers SBSSTES Units models Tools Output Application

Why statistical units are important To ensure the comparability of statistics for structural business statistics (SBS), including SMEs + short-term economic statistics (STES). within countries between countries

Main issues Statistical units models adopted by countries are different. Some differences are essentially just terminological (wording) Others are more than terminological. Need to identify real impact on statistics

Issues (cont.) Some countries base their statistics (e.g. SBS) on the enterprise Some on establishments Some on both enterprise and establishments What is impact on statistical comparability between countries?

Issues (cont.) Definitional criteria and their interpretation to define statistical units are different across countries with respect to: relationship to administrative units autonomy in decision making homogeneity ownership/control availability of accounts geographical criteria ancillary activities.

Issues (cont.) In defining enterprises basic approaches are different across countries: Type I: Legal unit = Enterprise derived from Business register Type II:From profiling – Business register + feedback from surveys Type III:No Business register – but from census data on establishments and separate data on legal units.

Possible concluding remarks Use of Business register based on taxation data is indispensable for business statistics including SMEs Alternatively, use of administrative data could also be considered but need clear understanding of units used More harmonisation is required between countries which have formula “one legal unit = one enterprise” and those which define enterprise through profiling Need to implement good practice of clear and accessible definitions of units and their application across collections