Statistics Belgium 

Thematic Directorate Enterprises

North Gate Boulevard du Roi Albert II 16, 1000
Bruxelles

Name of indicator/source

Turnover index (omzetindex/indice du chiffre d’affaires). This index is designed to be an indicator of the evolution of turnover.

NACE Rev. 2.

Activities covered: all sectors of Nace rev.2 except 50.3, 50.4, 91, 92, 94, A, K, L, O, P, Q, T, U

Size classes covered: According to VAT-rules.

List and definition of variables: Turnover is the value of sales of goods and services reduced by the value of credit notes issued and similar changes.

Planned changes in information collected: None

Accounting conventions: Measured turnover is the turnover during the calendar month or quarter (depending on whether the VAT-return is monthly or quarterly). Index is based on turnover.

Reporting unit: The reporting unit is the legal entity.

Observation unit(s): The observation unit is the enterprise.

Companies required to file a VAT return, except for companies classified in the following sectors (Nace Rev 2) : A, 50.3, 50.4, K, L, O, P, Q, 91, 92, 94, T and U.

All regions of Belgium are covered.

Date of first use as a source 2000

For calculations 2015 is the base year.

Index (2015=100). Absolute figures are published nationally (in 1000€).

Reference year of this report Quarterly

The legal basis for this indicator is the European Business Statistics (EBS) Regulation:

Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics (EBS-Regulation)
Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistic (General Implementing Act)
Belgium applies for this indicator the transitional arrangements set in the Annex VII (3.a) of the General Implementing Act EBS, which means that the requirements of the STS R - Council Regulation No 1165/98 and its amendments (The EU Council Regulation 1165/98 concerning short-term statistics, amended by the Regulation 1158/2005, and Regulation 1893/2006 establishing the statistical classification of economic activities Nace Rev.2) will continue to apply until the reference period Q4 2023.

The reporting units are obliged to provide the data. Fines can be given in cases of non-response or deliberate reporting of wrong information.

No planned changes in legal basis, obligation to respond and frame used.

Absolute figures are sent to the National Bank of Belgium on a monthly basis as an input for their national accounts. Indices are sent to Eurostat on a quarterly basis according to STS requirements.

There is a national law concerning the confidentiality of data: data from reporting units which are individual or which can result in individual data may not be disseminated without permission of the reporting unit.

Confidential are cells for 5 contributors or less and those for which the total result of which the two largest contributors are deducted is less than 10% of the result of the biggest contributor. Treatment is then applied to not allow the disclosure of confidential cells overlap based on the additivity constraint of the published tables.

Confidential data are treated by suppression. This is common because of the highly detailed level of published national and regional data.

Release dates are fixed in advance for a calendar year.

Access is given to all users, there are no limits.

Data are transmitted to Eurostat when they are published in Belgium.

The Economics Ministry's press department is provided a copy of the press release.

Data are transmitted to Eurostat when they are published in Belgium. The transmission is done by use of Edamis using SDMX.

Quarterly.

No ministerial commentary is attached to the release of data by the statistics office.

Name of national paper publications: press release
Name of national electronic dissemination: be.STAT

Statbel: https://statbel.fgov.be/fr/themes/indicateurs-conjoncturels/chiffres-daffaires/chiffres-daffaires-dans-le-secteur-des-services

Due to confidentiality policy, microdata are not disseminated.

Planned changes in national dissemination methods: None

Dissemination of documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing statistics: none.

Description of standard tables produced: none.

Not available yet.

Summary description of quality criteria calculated for national purposes:

Monthly control of the evolution of absolute figures (turnover and investments) on Nace class level (4 digits) and correction of errors in VAT returns.

Regular feedback from users about the exceptional evolutions.

National Bank of Belgium (National and Regional Accounts department): in terms of turnover and investments of services VAT is the only available source, Students, researchers and " starters": specific economic sector analysis, Professional associations: monitor sectoral developments. Provincial and regional research services: monitoring sectoral developments by region or provinces.

No measure of the satisfaction, but feedback of users by phone/e-mail.

Exhaustive statistics except for some sectors (see Statistical presentation (3)).

Statistics are reliable and controlled monthly. However, the accuracy is not guaranteed to be 100% because errors in the source data are not necessarily detected during checks (to keep them manageable, confidence intervals are used). Periodic revisions of statistics are possible due to changes of Nace-codes of legal entities in our business register.

Not relevant (only administrative data are used).

Response rate: The survey is compulsory.
Actions to speed up or increase the rate of response: Not available.

Timeliness: The turnover index is released within 2 months after the reference period.

Timetable of data collection: Enterprises must reply within 45 days from the end of the reference period.

Not measured, varies due to factors that are difficult to control, most importantly delivery of VAT returns by the Ministry of Finance.  

Delivery of VAT returns has been improved over the last 2 years due to a higher frequency of data feeds (weekly instead of monthly) and the migration to a more secure server.  

The weekly and more secured data feeds of VAT returns allow us now to start data analysis and outlier detection earlier.

OK: absolute figures are comparable between regions; indices are only available for Belgium.

OK: both absolute figures as indices are comparable over time as they are calculated in the same way for the whole period.

Dissemination of information that support statistical cross-checks and provide assurance of reasonableness:

No regular confrontation is made, but comparisons are made on an ad-hoc basis, especially when results seem contrary to expectations, with other short-term data (e.g. Prodcom, Retail Trade) and SBS.

Confrontation with other data sets:

No regular confrontation is made, but comparisons are made on an ad-hoc basis, especially when results seem contrary to expectations, with other short-term data (e.g. Prodcom, Retail Trade) and SBS.

OK: both absolute figures as indices are consistent as they are calculated in the same way for the whole period.

As only administrative data are used, the cost entirely consists of costs of staff. They are estimated to be around 6500€ per year. This estimation is based on a total of 160 working hours per year. There’s no burden: the administrative data are provided for free by the Ministry of Finance; if VAT returns are missing due to technical problems, they can be estimated based upon the VAT returns received.

Due to late and/or irregular VAT returns the data of the last 2 years is considered provisional and is subject to revision.

We however try to avoid major revisions by using a "Nace Alert"-system and by benchmarking with quarterly national accounts (see 17.2).

Currently a revision calender does not exist. 

If a revision is necessary, it will be applied to all data, both data published nationally and data transmitted to Eurostat. 

Provision of information about revision and advance notice of major changes in methodology:

Data sources (VAT returns) are controlled in May of each year (when processing the last returns of the previous year). The source data are corrected if necessary and absolute figures and indices of the last 2 years are corrected. Periodic revisions of statistics for longer periods are possible to take into account important changes of Nace-codes of legal entities in our business register.

Since 2019 we have installed a "Nace Alert" system which informs us on a monthly basis of possible changes in the Nace-codes of the legal entities in our business register and which allows us to better monitor them. Also, over the last couple of years, benchmarking is carried out with quarterly national accounts.

Due to the alert system and the benchmarking we have been able to avoid any major revisions since 2019. Minor revisions are however still possible. We currently don't have numeric information on the size of those minor revisions as we haven't been able to calculate MAR and MR yet.

Type of source: VAT returns.
Frame on which the source is based: Not available.
Sample or census: Not relevant (administrative data).
Criteria for stratification: Not relevant.
Threshold values and percentages: Not relevant.
Frequency of updating the sample: Quarterly.

Periodicity of data collection: Data collection is monthly or quarterly.

Questionnaires used in the survey: VAT returns

Planned changes in national questionnaires: None

Data collection media: Data are collected by VAT-offices.

Planned changes in data collection methodology: None

Changes in absolute figures (turnover and investments) are controlled at the level of NACE-classes (4-digit codes) and any errors are corrected in the source data. Both absolute figures and indices are validated by the statistician, her boss, the planning department and the dissemination department.

Estimates for non-response: Not relevant.

Estimates for grossing-up to population levels: Not relevant.

Type of index: The turnover index is a value index.

Method of weighting and chaining: Not relevant.

Planned changes in production methods: None.

WDA, SA and other calculations: Gross indices are transformed consecutively into indices per working day, seasonally adjusted indices and trend figures, using TRAMO SEATS by means of the JDemetra+ software (version 2.2.2).

When data is sent to Eurostat quarterly, a document with comments is added indicating possible quality problems and revisions.