Statistics Explained

Archive:Legal and accounting services statistics - NACE Rev. 2

Data from October 2015. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

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This article presents an overview of statistics for legal and accounting services in the European Union (EU), as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 69. It belongs to a set of statistical articles on 'Business economy by sector'

Table 1: Key indicators, legal and accounting activities (NACE Division 69), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Figure 1: Sectoral analysis of legal and accounting activities (NACE Division 69), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 2a: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, legal and accounting activities (NACE Division 69), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 2b: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, legal and accounting activities (NACE Division 69), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 3: Largest and most specialised Member States in legal and accounting activities (NACE Division 69), EU-28, 2012 (¹) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 4a: Key indicators, legal and accounting activities (NACE Division 69), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 4b: Key indicators, legal and accounting activities (NACE Division 69), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 5: Key size class indicators, legal and accounting activities (NACE Division 69), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Figure 2: Relative importance of enterprise size classes, legal and accounting activities (NACE Division 69), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Table 6a: Employment by enterprise size class, legal and accounting activities (NACE Division 69), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Table 6b: Value added by enterprise size class, legal and accounting activities (NACE Division 69), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

Almost 1.1 million enterprises operated in the legal and accounting services sector (Division 69) in the EU-28 in 2012. Together they employed 3.4 million persons, estimated to be around 2.5 % of the non-financial business economy (Sections B to J and L to N and Division 95) workforce and 29.5 % of those persons employed within professional, scientific and technical activities (Section M). The value added generated by the EU-28’s legal and accounting services was EUR 178.4 billion in 2012, approximately 2.9 % of the non-financial business economy total and 29.7 % of the professional, scientific and technical activities total. As such, based upon both value added and employment measures, this sector was the largest among the seven NACE divisions within professional, scientific and technical activities.

The apparent labour productivity of the EU-28’s legal and accounting services sector in 2012 was EUR 53.0 thousand of value added per person employed, which was just slightly above the professional, scientific and technical activities average (EUR 52.0 thousand per person employed) and also higher than the non-financial business economy average of EUR 46.2 thousand per person employed. Average personnel costs were EUR 38.3 thousand per employee, midway between the non-financial business economy average (EUR 32.4 thousand per employee) and the professional, scientific and technical activities average (EUR 44.3 thousand per employee). The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio, which combines the two previous indicators and shows the extent to which value added per person employed covers average personnel costs per employee, was 137.0 % for the EU-28’s legal and accounting services in 2012. This was somewhat below the non-financial business economy average of 142.7 % but, due to the lower average personnel costs, was well above the 118.0 % average for professional, scientific and technical activities average.

The gross operating rate, which is the relation between the gross operating surplus and turnover, is a measure of operating profitability and was 33.8 % for the EU-28’s legal and accounting services sector in 2012. This rate was 3.6 times as high as the non-financial business economy average (9.4 %) and 1.8 times as high as the professional, scientific and technical activities average (18.3 %). This was the highest level of operating profitability (using this measure) for the EU-28 in 2012 among the seven NACE divisions within the professional, scientific and technical activities and the fifth highest among all NACE divisions within the non-financial business economy.

Sectoral analysis

The legal and accounting services sector is composed of two groups, namely legal activities (Group 69.1) and accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy (Group 69.2). In the EU-28 these two subsectors contributed very similar levels of value added, while the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector had a higher share of sectoral employment (57.6 %) — see Figure 1.

The relatively high EU-28 apparent labour productivity figure for the whole of the legal and accounting services sector in 2012 was pulled upwards by the legal activities subsector where apparent labour productivity was EUR 61.0 thousand per person employed; for the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector, apparent labour productivity was EUR 46.0 thousand per person employed, which was about the same as the non-financial business economy average (EUR 46.2 thousand).

Similar pattern was observed for average personnel costs, the legal activities subsector had slightly higher average personnel costs than the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector in the EU-28, although average personnel costs per employee of both subsectors remained above the non-financial business economy average in 2012. Due to markedly higher apparent labour productivity, the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for the EU-28’s legal activities subsector (155.0 %) was higher than for the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector (123.0 %). Although the latter was below the non-financial business economy average (142.7 %), it was higher than the professional, scientific and technical activities average (118.0 %).

A large difference in the two subsector’s EU-28 gross operating rates was also observed in 2012, although both subsectors recorded relatively high profitability (based on this measure). The 26.4 % rate that was recorded for the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector was above the professional, scientific and technical activities average (18.3 %), while the 41.5 % rate for the legal activities subsector was the fifth highest among all of the NACE groups within the non-financial business economy in 2012.

Country analysis

The largest legal and accounting services sector among the EU Member States in 2012 was in the United Kingdom which contributed 25.4 % of EU-28 value added. This large share was boosted by the United Kingdom’s 28.1 % share of EU-28 value added in the legal activities subsector, though its 22.7 % share of EU-28 value added in the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector was also the largest one, ahead of Germany (20.5 %).

In relative terms, Luxembourg was the most specialised EU Member State in 2012 for both subsectors, as 7.9 % of non-financial business economy value added in Luxembourg was derived from legal and accounting services, split 5.3 % for the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector and 2.6 % for legal activities. Among all of the NACE divisions within the Luxembourg’s non-financial business economy, the legal and accounting services sector ranked third in terms of its contribution to non-financial business economy value added when compared with the corresponding average for the whole of the EU-28. Indeed, the level of specialisation (based on value added) in these services in Luxembourg was far greater than in any other Member State, as the next most specialised Member States, namely Cyprus and the United Kingdom, generated 6.5 % and 4.4 % of their non-financial business economy value added in the legal and accounting services sector. Romania was the least specialised Member State, as the legal and accounting services sector contributed 0.4 % of Romanian non-financial business economy value added in 2012; none of the other Member States recorded shares that were less than 1.2 % (Bulgaria and Estonia).

While the legal and accounting services sector contributed 2.9 % of the non-financial business economy value added that was generated in the EU-28 in 2012, the corresponding shares for non-member countries were consistently lower, 2.4 % in Switzerland and 1.4 % for Norway, where the relative weight of the legal and accounting services sector was less than half that of the EU-28 average.

A majority of the EU Member States recorded wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for legal and accounting services in 2012 that were below their non-financial business economy average. The largest difference was in Ireland, where the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for the legal and accounting services sector was 144.8 % compared with a non-financial business economy average of 208.2 %; Greece was the only Member State where the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for this sector in 2012 was below 100 %. By contrast, Italy recorded a wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio of 159.3 % for legal and accounting services and this was 34.7 percentage points above the average Italian ratio for the whole of the non-financial business economy (124.6 %). Malta, Belgium, France, Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom were the only other Member States (aside from Italy) to report that wage-adjusted labour productivity in the legal and accounting services sector was higher than or equal to the whole of the non-financial business economy. The highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios in the legal and accounting services sector were recorded for Malta, at 203.1 % in 2012, the United Kingdom (181.6 %) and Romania (172.4 %).

The high gross operating rate observed for the EU-28’s legal and accounting services sector in 2012 was repeated across all Member States, as the gross operating rate for legal and accounting services was consistently higher than that for the non-financial business economy as a whole. The highest profitability rate (52.4 %) was recorded in Italy, some 5.5 times as high as the average for the Italian non-financial business economy, and the highest gross operating rate recorded in Italy among all of the NACE divisions in the non-financial business economy. The second highest gross operating rate for legal and accounting services was 46.2 % in Malta, which was also the second highest rate among all of the NACE divisions in Malta’s non-financial business economy. Profitability rates (using this measure) above the EU-28 average for the legal and accounting services sector (33.8 %) were also recorded in the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and Austria. Luxembourg recorded the lowest gross operating rate among the Member States, but the 16.5 % rate that was registered for the Luxembourgish legal and accounting services sector was well above the average rate of 5.7 % that was recorded for the whole of the Luxembourgish non-financial business economy.

Size class analysis

There were almost 1.1 million micro enterprises (employing fewer than 10 persons) active within the EU-28’s legal and accounting services sector in 2012. Together they generated EUR 74.7 billion of added value (41.9 % of the sectoral total), which was almost twice as high as the shares of value added reported for large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons) or small enterprises (employing 10 to 49 persons); the relative weight of medium-sized enterprises (employing 50 to 249 persons) was considerably lower (12.3 % of sectoral value added).

In employment terms, the relative importance of micro enterprises within the EU-28’s legal and accounting services workforce was even higher: they employed almost 1.9 million persons in 2012, equivalent to 54.7 % of the sectoral total, and 2.6 times as high as the 21.3 % share recorded for small enterprises (in 2011) which was the next largest.

Combining this information on employment and value added shares, it was apparent that the labour productivity of micro enterprises within the EU-28’s legal and accounting services sector was lower than that for enterprises in other size classes. On average, each person employed within a micro enterprise generated EUR 40.3 thousand of value added in 2012. There were increasing returns to scale, as EU-28 apparent labour productivity rose to a high of EUR 86.5 thousand of value added per person among large enterprises operating within the legal and accounting services sector, more than double the ratio recorded for micro enterprises.

Large enterprises employed more than one fifth of the legal and accounting services workforce in 2012 in Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Denmark, their share peaking at 37.7 % in Luxembourg. The United Kingdom, Denmark, Luxembourg and Ireland were the only EU Member States (for which data are available) to report that their highest shares of value added within this sector were generated by large enterprises; in each of the remaining Member States, except Cyprus and Germany, the highest share of sectoral value added was attributed to micro enterprises.

Indeed, the legal and accounting services sector was dominated, in almost every EU Member State for which data are available, by small and medium-sized enterprises, and in particular, by micro enterprises. The share of micro enterprises in the legal and accounting services workforce peaked at 86.8 % in Portugal and 86.2 % in Slovenia, while Italy, Latvia and Croatia also reported that more than four out of every five persons working within this sector were employed by micro enterprises in 2012. Eight additional Member States recorded micro enterprises accounting for more than 70 % of their legal and accounting services workforce.

Data sources and availability

The analysis presented in this article is based on the main dataset for structural business statistics (SBS) and size class data, all of which are published annually.

The main series provides information for each EU Member State as well as a number of non-member countries at a detailed level according to the activity classification NACE. Data are available for a wide range of variables.

In structural business statistics, size classes are generally defined by the number of persons employed. A limited set of the standard structural business statistics variables (for example, the number of enterprises, turnover, persons employed and value added) are analysed by size class, mostly down to the three-digit (group) level of NACE. The main size classes used in this article for presenting the results are:

  • small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): with 1 to 249 persons employed, further divided into;
    • micro enterprises: with less than 10 persons employed;
    • small enterprises: with 10 to 49 persons employed;
    • medium-sized enterprises: with 50 to 249 persons employed;
  • large enterprises: with 250 or more persons employed.

Context

This article presents an overview of statistics for the legal and accounting services sector in the EU, as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 69.

Legal activities include legal representation of one party’s interest against another party, such as advice and representation in civil cases, criminal actions, and labour disputes. It also includes preparation of legal documents, such as articles of incorporation, partnership agreements or similar documents in connection with company formation, patents and copyrights, preparation of deeds, wills, trusts and so on, as well as other activities of notaries, bailiffs, arbitrators, examiners and referees.

Accounting, bookkeeping, auditing and tax consultancy activities include the recording of commercial transactions, the preparation or auditing of financial accounts, the examination of accounts and certification of their accuracy, the preparation of personal and business income tax returns, as well as advisory activities and representation (other than legal representation) on behalf of clients before tax authorities.

This NACE division is composed of two classes organised into two groups:

  • legal activities (Group 69.1);
  • accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities; tax consultancy (Group 69.2).

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

SBS – services (serv)
Annual detailed enterprise statistics for services (sbs_na_serv)
Annual detailed enterprise statistics for services (NACE Rev. 2 H-N and S95) (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
SMEs - Annual enterprise statistics by size class - services (sbs_sc_sc)
Services by employment size class (NACE Rev. 2 H-N and S95) (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
SBS - regional data - all activities (sbs_r)
SBS data by NUTS 2 regions and NACE Rev. 2 (from 2008 onwards) (sbs_r_nuts06_r2)

Dedicated section

Source data for tables and figures (MS Excel)

Other information

External links

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