1. Wiesbaden, 24 October, 2007 Svetlana Shutova Statistics Estonia
Implementation of the Statistical Unit “Enterprise” in the Estonian Business Register for Statistical Purposes
Wiesbaden, 24 October, 2007
Svetlana Shutova
Statistics Estonia

2. Background information
Statistics Estonia created the Statistical Business Register in 1994
Currently the Register includes the following statistical units:
legal unit, enterprise, local unit,
kind-of-activity unit, local kind-of-activity unit, enterprise group
Up to the year 2007 every active enterprise in the Register consisted of one legal unit

3. Definiton of the Enterprise according to the Council Regulation on Statistical Units
The enterprise is the smallest combination of legal units that is an organizational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit

4. Project to Implement Complex Enterprise
Project to Implement Complex Enterprise
Period of the project —
March 2006 – April 2007
Financed by Eurostat

5. Aim of the Project To implement Complex Enterprise in the Register
Aim of the Project
To implement Complex Enterprise in the Register
To integrate the new unit into the process of
producing statistics
The delineation of Complex Enterprise is practical only in case it is implemented both in the Statistical Register as well as in the production of statistics

6. Tasks accomplished during Project Implementation
Methodology and experience of other NSI’s have been analysed
A national approach for forming Complex Enterprises has been developed
The methodology of Complex Enterprise was discussed with statisticians and external users
The risks associated with the proposed innovation were mapped
The structure and principles of implementing Complex Enterprise in the Register and production of statistics were agreed upon
A model for recording and maintaining the Complex Enterprise data in the Register was developed

7. Experience of other NSI’s
The automatic rules’ method or manual approach
Mass production of CE’s or profiling of single cases

8. Main criteria to indicate the existence of Complex Enterprise
Main criteria to indicate the existence of Complex Enterprise
Market orientation
Sharing factors of production
Availability of accounts

9. Sources of information
Sources of information
Register of enterprise groups
Estonian Tax and Customs Board
Annual bookkeeping reports

10. Register of enterprise groups
Register created in 2004
Since 2005 — regular enterprise groups’ data production and publication
Coverage — all-resident and truncated
enterprise groups
Sources of information — Commercial Register and Estonian Central Register of Securities

11. Estonian Tax and Customs Board
Estonian Tax and Customs Board
According to the Value Added Tax Act a parent undertaking and its subsidiaries may be registered as a single taxable person on the basis of a joint application. As a single taxable person can also register taxable persons whose shares or votes (determined by the shares at least 50 per cent) are owned by the same person. Persons registered as a single taxable person submit the value added tax returns separately but are jointly liable for payment of value added tax in time

12. Annual bookkeeping reports
Annual bookkeeping reports
Annual accounts — balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement and statement of changes in share capital
Management report — an overview of the activities of the enterprise, assessment of the financial position and business activities of the accounting entity, significant events in the financial year and the likely future developments in the following financial year

13. Criteria to extract the population of potential CE’s
Criteria to extract the population of potential CE’s
Based on the data of ownership links
Pairs of legal units were selected, where both units are active and the subsidiary is entirely owned by the parent company
Pairs of legal units with 20 or more employees were selected, where parent company has only one subsidiary
Annual bookkeeping accounts were used for further in-depth analysis

14. Delineation of potential Complex Enterprises

15. Combinations of legal units in enterprises
Separate legal unit for factor of production (e.g. employment)
Separate legal unit for one single process of production (e.g. intermediate product of footwear)
Separate legal unit for ancillary activity (e.g. wholesale)
Separate legal unit for one single process of service (e.g. cleanliness and maintenance of cities)

16. Co-operation with statisticians
All the branches of statistics and the methodologists should take part in developing the procedures and rules for treatment of Complex Enterprise as a reporting unit for statistical data collection

17. Discussion with statisticians
The delineation methodology of Complex Enterprises was introduced
The main criteria for forming a Complex Enterprise were outlined
Factors that might indicate the formation of potential Complex Enterprise were discussed

18. Concerns expressed by statisticians
Concerns expressed by statisticians
The changes in methodology have to be explained to the users of statistics
The commentaries and explanations have to be incorporated into metadata
How to match the statistical data and the data from administrative sources
Recalculation of data in time series, etc

19.
Major concern
How to produce regional and/or activity-based statistical data, if different legal units were incorporated into one enterprise

20. Co-operation with external users
Bank of Estonia
Ministry of Social Affairs
University of Tartu
Tallinn University of Technology

21. Risks noticed by external users
Risks noticed by external users
Necessity to amend report forms and manuals
Matching of the data received from different sources could be problematic
CE should contain only the legal units which are residents of one country
From the point of view of labour policy analyses, CE might make the link between an employee and his/her location of employment complicated
Important internal aspects of an enterprise group could be lost for economic analysis

22. Structure of the register

23. Model for recording the Complex Enterprise data in the Register

24. Maintaining the Complex Enterprise data in the Register
Classification on relations between units includes new components (Head of CE, Member of CE)
Brief information on both the structure and the demographic data of CE is recorded in the notes
More detailed information on CE is maintaned outside the Register (Report on CE)

25. Maintaining of Complex Enterprise in the Statistical Info System
Supplying data on enterprises for the electronic data collection system (eSTAT)
Sending out information letters
Sending out reminders
Answering queries, etc

26. Example of CE. Preliminary information

27. Example of CE. Structure of EG

28. Example of CE. Changes in the structure of EG

29. Example of CE. Record in the register

30. Decrease of statistical burden

31. Conclusions
Implementation of Complex Enterprise is practical only in case it is implemented both in the Statistical Register as well as in the production of statistics
In future, the topic of Complex Enterprise could be discussed in Eurostat not only within the area of statistical registers but also in other statistical areas
It would be useful to continue the good practice of profiling seminars. It would be a great advantage, if branch statisticians could also be invited