1. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Statistical Division Statistical Business Register in the CIS countries 21st meeting of the Wiesbaden Group November 2008, Paris Presentation by Vitalija Gaucaite Wittich, UNECE (vitalia.gaucaite@unece.org)

2. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2November 2008 Overview 1. Use of statistical business registers (BR) 2. Sources for statistical BR 3. Activity classifications in use 4. Coverage of statistical units 5. Enterprise groups - the new challenge

3. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 3November 2008 1. Use of statistical BRs Widespread: For grossing up survey results, survey editing & imputation, for data tabulation and as a source for R&D statistics Rarely used: For production of data on business demography, for deriving economic statistics

4. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 4November 2008 1. Use of statistical BRs (continued) Progress can be seen, albeit indirectly : Gradual expansion of the list of recorded variables – i.e. the date of cessation of activities, not recorded before, is mentioned among the variables in six countries in 2008 Survey Improved coverage and timeliness of various records – the reference periods of reported data are more recent in the 2008 Survey Actions/plans of implementing revised economic activity classifications - the gradual approach in the implementation, use of double recording and back-casting; collaboration with other register-keepers

5. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 5November 2008 2. Variety of sources for statistical BRs

6. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 6November 2008 2. Variety of sources for statistical BRs (continued) Changes recorded by the 2008 Survey: Single administrative BR: + 3 countries Surveys on BR update: - 2 countries Tax authorities data: + 2 countries Central bank data: - 1 country No change regarding the use of Published accounts, Chamber of Commerce or Customs registries

7. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 7November 2008 3. Activity coding Implementing new economic activity classification

8. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 8November 2008 3. Activity coding (continued) Implementing new economic activity classification: Automatic recoding is expected to cover from 25% to 35% of the statistical units, while the rest will be recoded manually Double coding for at least three years is foreseen Intentions to coordinate introduction of the Revised activity classification in the Single administrative business registers and other administrative sources

9. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 9November 2008 4. Coverage of statistical units Percentage change of unit population, BRQ 2006 - BRQ 2008

10. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 10November 2008 4. Coverage of statistical units (continued) Average number of occupied persons per registered enterprise * Data refer to 2004 and 2006

11. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 11November 2008 4. Coverage of statistical units (continued) Registered enterprises, BRQ-2008 by sections of NACE Rev. 1 * Legal units

12. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 12November 2008 4. Coverage of statistical units (continued) In general: Many countries have a good coverage of the incorporated units The coverage of small businesses and individual entrepreneurs is rather insufficient There are special registers for the agricultural sector in some countries Specific: In Belarus, Moldova and the Russian Federation– the legal unit is identical to the enterprise In Armenia, Georgia and Moldova local units are not yet included in the statistical BR

13. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 13November 2008 5. Enterprise groups – the new challenge Enterprise groups (EGR) – be it all- resident or multinational ones - are not yet monitored for statistical BR purpose Few exceptions as reported in the 2006 and 2008 UNECE Surveys by: Kyrgyzstan Russian Federation Tajikistan

14. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 14November 2008 5. Enterprise groups – the new challenge (continued) Kyrgyzstan’s information refers to foreign-controlled enterprises/legal units without explicit link to any EGR. It is exclusively based on administrative sources. No entries in the statistical BR. The Russian Federation reports only on the overall number of all-resident enterprise groups: Total 44’219 EGRs incorporating 401’850 legal units (01.01.2007) Few basic variables are recorded in statistical BR Main source: Single administrative Business register Multinational EGRs to be included starting 2009 Tajikistan’s statistical BR contains some information on the multinational EGRs sourced from both administrative sources and statistical surveys.

15. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 15November 2008 5. Enterprise groups – the new challenge (continued) Multinational Enterprise Groups

16. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 16November 2008 5. Enterprise groups – the new challenge (continued) Harmonising methodological approaches with those accepted internationally is the way ahead Countries should look for best practices on: profiling of large and complex enterprises delineation of enterprise groups reviewing principal and secondary activity coding cooperation with central banks, commercial data providers, etc.

17. UNECE Statistical Division Slide 17November 2008 Thank you!