ESSnet on Consistency of Concepts and Methods of business-related Statistics

1. ESSnet on Consistency of Concepts and Methods of business-related Statistics Giuseppe Garofalo - ISTAT 2012 ESSnet Workshop, Rome, 3-4 December 2012 SESSION 1: European System of Business Registers (ESBRs)

2. ESSnet on Consistency of Concepts and Methodsof business-related Statistics. Issues (1) The development of the ESS did not occur “in one pour”: different stakeholders, interests and user needs were involved; the Member States also had different views, history and experience The concepts and methods also evolved over time so that one specific statistical domain developed in the past might now be seen from a different perspective concepts, definitions, methodologies and practices vary to some degree over the different statistical domains and over the different MSs Difficult to compare the statistical outputs of the various statistical domains: Horizontal Inconsistency Difficult to compare the statistical outputs produced by the NSIs: Vertical Inconsistency

3. ESSnet on Consistency of Concepts and Methodsof business-related Statistics. Issues (2) European vs. National Vertical consistency can be also defined as: The issue of comparability between the sum of Member States data and the European aggregate. Concepts developed for the national implementation may not be suited to derive the consistent European aggregate on the basis of such Member States data. This may occur in statistical domains where the statistical objects are of a cross-border nature.

4. ESSnet on Consistency of Concepts and Methodsof business-related Statistics. WP1 Statistical units Objective and expected results Overall objective: To provide a methodological, sustainable and cost-effective harmonised framework for different areas of business and trade statistics • Expected results: • Consistency between legal acts on business and trade statistics improved. • Methodology among the relevant areas is harmonised to the extent possible. • If needed, revision of statistical legal acts (e.g. Statistical Unit)

5. ESSnet on Consistency of Concepts and Methodsof business-related Statistics. WP1 Statistical units Organisation • The work was grouped into three projects: • WP1 -Statistical units - deadline: 31.12.2012 • WP2 -Target population, frames, reference period, classifications • and their applications – deadline: 31.12.2013 • WP3 -Characteristics and definitions – deadline: 31.12.2013

6. ESSnet on Consistency of Concepts and Methodsof business-related Statistics. WP1 Statistical units Topics WP1 WP2 WP3 Target population: definition and implementation of the target population in each stat. domain; Sampling frames: definition and implementation of the survey frames for each statistical domain, consistency with frames for other business statistics domains; Reference period: implementation of the reference period requirements in each statistical domain; Classifications: coverage, level of application, special aggregates, size classes in each statistical domain and in comparison with other business statistics domains. Inconsistency in statistical units applied in different statistical domains and in the application of the statistical units’ definition in different MS Inconsistency of the existing statistical units for the development of new European statistical domains. Focus on: BR/SBS/STS/NA flier and on Enterprise (EG) and KAU/LKAU units The inconsistencies regarding characteristics and their definitions will be evaluate mainly on 17 core variables corresponding to the common module of the SBS regulation: Economic Core Char. Number of enterprises Number of local units Turnover Production Value Value added at factor cost Gross operating surplus Total purchases of goods and services Purchases off goods and services Gross investment in tangible goods. Core Employment Char. Payment of agency workers Personnel costs Wages and salaries Social security costs Number of persons employed Number of employees Number of employees in full-time equiv. Numbers of hours worked by employees

7. ESSnet on Consistency of Concepts and Methodsof business-related Statistics. WP1 Statistical units Activities and state of the art of the projects wp1 wp2 wp3 Inputs Activities Inventory of the implementation of the concepts in the member states External Study X X X Eurostat and National experts Identification of inconsistencies X X X Inquiry/DB Evaluation and assessment of inconsistencies X Workshops Proposals for adjustments X

8. ESSnet on Consistency of Concepts and Methodsof business-related Statistics. WP1 Statistical units Consistency and ESBR • VIP-ESBR: Eurostat proposes a global ESS approach aiming at a • European System of interoperable statistical Business Registers • going beyond the existing EGR and the existing national BRs. • Strengthening the role of national BRs: "backbone" of business statistical • data warehouses . • Improving the EGR quality: quality management program • Enabling efficient links between national BRs and EGR Definitions (BR units and variables) – operational criteria – application in practice Consistency National BRs and European ESBR perspective

9. ESSnet on Consistency of Concepts and Methodsof business-related Statistics. WP1 Statistical units Consistency and ESBR: definitions/criteria/application To have well definitions is a necessary prerequisite for data consistency. But it is not sufficient: What are the rules to delineate an enterprise inside an EG ? How to compute the annual average of the employees ? How to take in consideration of the different national thresholds in VAT declarations ? Is the productive process or the output the criterion to define the economic activity (especially in high-tech sectors) ? What does time of BR (or ESBR) data reference mean? Operational criteria and rules have to be well identified and – in some way - considered as mandatory A quality management program is the proper mean for the assessment of the practical application of the rules

10. ESSnet on Consistency of Concepts and Methodsof business-related Statistics. WP1 Statistical units Consistency and ESBR: National vs. European perspective • The European statistics are produced on the basis of the concept of “residence” • and the national BRs support this approach. • The National borders identify the National statistics (using the present EU regulation). • Are the European statistics identified by the border of Europe? • In case of employment the sum of the National figures = European figure • In case of turnover the sum of the National figures ≠ European figure • In case of MNE, the delineation of the enterprises could be different • in European and National perspective Is the ESBR – in terms of units and value of the variables = or ≠ to the sum of National BRs?

11. ESSnet on Consistency of Concepts and Methodsof business-related Statistics. WP1 Statistical units Thanks for your attention!