Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Services Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (STEC) statistics provide information on the types of enterprises engaged in international trade in services and show how enterprises in different industries supply services and how this relates to their primary activity. STEC disclose additional insights into trade statistics, by allowing the profiling of the enterprises according to selected characteristics such as number of employees, type of ownership and economic activity.
A+B - Agriculture, forestry, and fishing; mining and quarrying,
D+E - Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply; water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities,
I+L+O+P+Q+R+S+T+U - Accommodation and food service activities; real estate activities; public administration, defence; compulsory social security; education; human health and social work activities; other services.
· NACE Sections:
C - Manufacturing,
F - Construction,
G - Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles,
H - Transportation and storage,
J - Information and communication,
K - Financial and insurance activities,
M - Professional, scientific, and technical activities,
N - Administrative and support service activities.
1. Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others
2. Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.
3. Transport
4. Travel
5. Construction
6. Insurance and pension services
7. Financial services
8. Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e.
9. Telecommunications, computer, and information services
10. Other business services
10.1. Research and development services
10.2. Professional and management consulting services
10.3. Technical, trade-related, and other business services
11. Personal, cultural and recreational services
12. Government goods and services, n.i.e.
3.5. Statistical unit
Enterprise.
3.6. Statistical population
The activity breakdown covers NACE sections from A to U.
The product breakdown covers EBOPS 2010 main items.
3.7. Reference area
Ireland
3.8. Coverage - Time
Year 2023
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
All data sent to Eurostat are in Thousands of Euro for Euro Area countries and in Thousands of National currency for non-Euro Area countries. The unit of dissemination is Euro.
Calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics sets the data requirements in the field of services trade by enterprise characteristics for the EU Member States and EFTA countries. The exact technical specifications are listed in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197, table 17 "Country-level business statistics on trade in services by enterprise characteristics (STEC) – annual data".
The variables must be reported annually with first reference year 2023.
The services data is collected by the Balance of Payments Division and the employment data is collected by the Business Statistics Division.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Apart from the quarterly and annual surveyed data which is obtained from direct collection, internal CSO or external administrative sources, ancillary information to assist with the compilation of results is also used. This largely consists of Irish Stock Exchange listings, currency exchange and interest rates, CBI statistics, government department statistics and their agencies such as the office of the Revenue Commissionersany and other relevant statistical information from industry associations or other sources.
Quarterly travel information is obtained from the relevant compiling divisions within the CSO.
Arrangements have been put in place, in co-operation with the CBI, for the collection and compilation of statistics for banks, investment funds and financial vehicle corporations (e.g. FVCs). The system has been in operation since 2008 and has significantly reduced the burden on respondents as one return now meets a number of requirements for CSO and CBI. This development is in line with our commitment to minimise the burden on data providers.
Qualitative information useful for statistical register purposes is obtained from the CSO Central Business Register (CBR) and from other sources. In addition, information from the Department of Finance, the CBI and the Companies Registration Office (CRO) is used in the maintenance of the financial services enterprises section of the register. Useful information from newspapers, periodicals, etc., are also used as inputs into the statistical register system.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
The confidentiality of individual data collected for compilation of BOP and other related statistics is protected under the provisions of the CSO Statistics Act, 1993 and, where relevant, under European legislation i.e. Council Regulation (EC) No. 322/97 of 17 February 1997 repealed by regulation (EC) No. 223/2009 of 11 March 2009 (Chapter V “Statistical confidentiality”) which regulates the protection and transmissions of confidential data within ESS and ESCB. Article 10 of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 says: “Member States shall provide all levels of aggregation of the breakdowns as defined in the tables of Annex I, Part B and the data transmitted shall contain, where applicable, all primary and secondary confidentiality flags in accordance with the confidentiality rules existing at national level.”.
The confidentiality status attribute is mandatory in the STEC domain and thus each observation must be flagged with a confidentiality status.
Aggregated statistical results which are published nationally or transmitted internationally may include statistical elements which are statistically confidential and which therefore must to be suppressed. Such confidential data can arise where there are a small number of contributors (enterprises) to a particular piece of information or in other cases where one or two contributors are very dominant. The information is suppressed in a way that renders it undisclosed either directly or indirectly by derivation.
In summary the suppression of data in the Balance of Payments Division (which includes quarterly BOP, International Trade in Services, STEC, FDI and IIP statistics) is based on two principal rules, the frequency and the dominance rule.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
The rules used to define and suppress a confidential cell are as follows:
The suppression of data is based on two principal rules. The frequency and the dominance rule.
Suppression is applied when there are a small number of enterprises contributing to a data value (eg a frequency less than three/four)
Suppression is applied when one or two enterprises significantly dominate a data value.
If a suppression is applied then suppressing only that value is not sufficient. In a data table if subtotal are available, it is still possible to determine the suppressed cell's actual value. Other cell values are therefore suppressed in a row or column to protect the primary data value. The suppression of these other values is secondary suppression.
8.1. Release calendar
Eurostat release calendar can be found at the following link: release calendar.
The Quarterly International Accounts, annual ITS, annual FDI, Resident Holding of Foreign Portfolio securities and annual STEC statistics are scheduled for release in the publicly available CSO release calendar.
The scheduled release date for the annual STEC data is listed on the CSO release calendar.
The 2023 STEC release is scheduled for 19th September 2025.
Annual.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
There are no current press releases or ad-hoc releases linked to the annual STEC publication
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
The STEC data is published annually on the CSO website.
Detailed STEC tables are available on the CSO databank.
2023 STEC data will be published by the CSO on September 19th 2025.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
The Eurostat database for external sector statistics provides access to annual data on ITS, STEC and MoS.
Harmonized data is available for the European Union, the euro area, the EU Member States, the United Kingdom, EFTA countries, candidate and potential candidate countries.
The CSO database can be accessed at the following link: Data cso.
The Bop statutory inquiries are conducted to meet the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 January 2005 on community statistics concerning Balance of Payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment (as amended by Regulation Nos. 601/2006, 602/2006, 1137/2008, 707/2009, 555/2012 and 2016/1013) and the ECB Guideline ECB/2004/15 (as amended by ECB Guideline ECB/2007/3 , recast in Guideline ECB/2011/23 as amended by ECB Guideline ECB/2013/25 of 30 July 2013 and EU Guideline 2016/231 of 26 November 2015) on the statistical reporting requirements of the European Central Bank in the field of Balance of Payments and international investment position statistics.
In fulfilling its mandate the CSO applies the best statistical standards and methodology, and adheres to the highest professional standards of impartiality, integrity and independence. The Office fully subscribes to the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.
The CSO operates under a strict legal regime, supported by a robust quality framework, the backbone of which is the European Statistics Code of Practice (ESCOP). This Code of Practice is made up of 16 principles covering the institutional environment, the statistical production process and the output of statistics. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) as a member of the European Statistical system is duty-bound and committed to following the Code. Each of the 16 principles has a number of specific indicator measures which are enacted through the policies, standards and practices of the CSO.
In accordance with the ESCOP quality standards, the quality requirements of CSO’s statistical outputs are:
to be relevant with regard to meeting users information needs
to be accurate so that estimates or indicators accurately and reliably portray reality
to be timely so that statistics are made available to users in a timely and punctual manner
to be accessible so that statistics are presented to users in a clear, understandable form, released in a suitable and convenient manner, available and accessible on an impartial basis with supporting metadata
to be comparable and coherent to enable comparison internally, over time or among related sources
The Quality Policy for the Office is set out in “Quality in Statistics - A Handbook of Quality Standards and Guidelines” . This provides information and recommendations on best practice and contains clear guidelines and standards to ensure that the quality of our processes and outputs are of the highest standard.
The CSO’s commitment to the quality of the statistics produced and disseminated is set out in its quality statement (see Central Statistics Office Quality Statement (PDF 101KB) ). This is further supported by the Government of Ireland adopted “Commitment on Confidence in Statistics” which declares support for the existing laws and for those policies and practices instigated by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to meet its obligations under the European Statistics Code of Practice.
Standard reports on methods and quality for each statistical output are available on the Methods page of the CSO website. These reports provide information to users on the methodology in place in the particular survey area together with an assessment of the quality of the resulting survey output in terms of the quality dimensions set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Eurostat assessed the completeness and accessibility of the 2023 dataset by evaluating the proportion of mandatory cells reported and the extent of confidentiality.
All mandatory cells across all tables were fully reported (100%), while approximately 16% of the dataset was flagged as confidential.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Internal users are predominantly National Accounts and Financial Accounts. National users are Government Departments, the Irish Fiscal Council, researchers, embassies and economists.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
The views of users are generally noted at the quarterly Macroeconomic Liaison Group meetings.
In attendance are economists from the National Banks, the Central Bank, the Economic and Social Research Institute and members of the Irish Fiscal Council and Government Departments.
The opinions and views of users are also noted through email correspondence and queries.
12.3. Completeness
The content requirements in the field of services trade by enterprise characteristics as outlined in Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics are being supplied to Eurostat in tables STEC01, STEC02 and STEC03.
The exact technical specifications are listed in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
100% of the required relevant data cells are available.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The STEC data is compiled using the International Trade in Services (ITS) dataset and is linked to the Business Register to include the number of employees variable.
The services exports/imports variables, the Business Register number of employees variable along with the BoP NACE and Ultimate Control (UC) variable provide the building blocks needed to compile STEC.
The STEC data is therefore aligned and consistent with the ITS data.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not applicable
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not applicable
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable
13.3.4. Processing error
Not applicable.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
The data transmission deadline for all STEC tables is 18 months after the end of the reference period (T+18M). The latest reference period is 2023.
The IE STEC tables were transmitted before the transmission deadline.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not applicable.
14.2. Punctuality
The IE STEC tables were transmitted before the transmission deadline.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Not applicable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
From a methodological point of view, the comparability across countries is ensured by the implementation of the concepts and definitions set up by the EU legislation and by the application of the complementary guidelines provided by the European business statistics Compilers guide for statistics on services trade by enterprise characteristics (STEC).
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Not applicable.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Not applicable.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
There were no reported inconsistencies with integrity rules for the STEC data transmitted.
All STEC tables (STEC01, STEC02, STEC03) are internally consistent.
Not applicable.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Source: A Harmonised European Revision Policy for Macroeconomic Statistics; CMFB October 2017. Macroeconomic statistics, such as national accounts, the balance of payments and the international investment position, are produced from a large variety of data sources. These data sources are reconciled using an approach based on an agreed set of international guidelines. The sources used to estimate macroeconomic aggregates are provided with varying degrees of timeliness, taking up to three years or more in the case of structural sources. As users need national and international data as fast as possible, particularly on certain key aggregates like gross domestic product (GDP), data are produced using the sources and related indicators that are more readily available. As more complete data are obtained from these sources in due course and the structural sources are made available, the statistics are updated to incorporate the new information.
Such revisions of macroeconomic statistics are necessary to improve quality, but they can be inconvenient for users. To minimise this inconvenience, revisions should ideally be coordinated within one country, across different statistics, and then across countries. International comparability – and the compilation of EU and euro area aggregate statistics – is hampered when different revision policy schemes are applied in different countries. As the schedule of revision of national accounts and balance of payments statistics varies from country to country, this creates inconsistencies among different statistical domains.
The European Statistical System (ESS) and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) try to strike the right balance between incorporating the necessary statistical revisions and maintaining an acceptable degree of consistency across domains and countries. To this end, the two systems have worked together to draw up guidelines for a harmonised revision policy for macroeconomic statistics.
A distinction should be made between 'routine' revisions and 'major' or 'benchmark' revisions. Routine revisions refer to the changes made to the economic data published initially and to its subsequent releases for a particular reference quarter or year. The earlier estimates typically undergo the most significant revision. In routine revisions, the number of past periods being revised (the 'depth' of the revision) is typically relatively limited. Benchmark revision is carried out at much longer time intervals. Its purpose is to incorporate the main new data sources and major changes in international statistical methodology (such as ESA2010 or BPM6). In benchmark revision, many years are open for revision in order to create the longest possible consistent time series.
The National Statistical Offices and the National Central Banks are not legally bound by this common policy, but voluntarily agree to it and commit to gradually implement it with the aim of delivering more consistent statistics to users. The level of adherence to the guidelines of countries' revision policies will be monitored regularly.
The CSO Bop Division will continue its existing routine revision policy for quarterly and annual data.
The nationally published quarterly BOP, IIP and External Debt results and the related calendar year results are first revised at end-June of each year when the first quarter’s results are published. They are revised for a second time one year later. At that point these results are normally considered final. The nationally published detailed annual results are normally revised once and are then considered final. A very similar revision and results finalization policy applies to the data sent to Eurostat, ECB, IMF and OECD. Figures, particularly of a quarterly frequency, may be revised more frequently than described if a very significant revision is required or following introduction of significant methodological changes.
Studies of scale, direction and the magnitude of revisions are carried out annually by the Bop Division and are published nationally in the 'Standard report on Methods and Quality for Balance of Payments (BOP) ' Internal_Quality_Report_-_period_2022.pdf
17.2. Data revision - practice
The CSO Bop Division will continue its existing routine revision policy for quarterly and annual Bop, ITSS FDI and IIP data.
The nationally published quarterly BOP, IIP and External Debt results and the related calendar year results are first revised at end-June of each year when the first quarter’s results are published. They are revised for a second time one year later. At that point these results are normally considered final.
The nationally published detailed annual results are normally revised once and are then considered final. A very similar revision and results finalization policy applies to the data sent to Eurostat, ECB, IMF and OECD. Figures, particularly of a quarterly frequency, may be revised more frequently than described if a very significant revision is required or following introduction of significant methodological changes.
Currently the STEC data is published once (similar to the Business statistics data). We will consider moving to the standard annual revision policy for transmitted STEC data when resources are available. However we do not plan to revise the nationally published STEC data.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
BOP data collection is statutory and surveys are conducted by the CSO and by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI). Other data obtained from administrative sources are also used. Following the introduction of a redesigned BOP data collection system in 1998 and up to 2007, the CSO undertook all the necessary survey collection and compilation required. However, following a recent joint initiative involving the CSO and the CBI to rationalize statistical data collection and compilation for the financial sector and also to reduce the burden on data providers the data collection arrangements have changed.
As a consequence, since 2008 the data required from licensed banks (credit institutions) and from investment funds (including money market funds) to meet BOP, IIP and external debt requirements (as well as other statistical demands on both organisations) are being collected quarterly by the CBI under its legislation as well as European legislation[1]. The data are supplied by the CBI to CSO for statistical compilation purposes. The CSO has therefore discontinued its surveys of credit institutions and investment funds but continues to collect the required data from other financial enterprises as well as non-financial enterprises using its ongoing quarterly statutory surveys. These are conducted under the Statistics (Balance of Payments and Financial Accounts) Order, 2016 (S.I. No. 597 of 2016) made under the Statistics Act, 1993. The Central Bank commenced data collection form Financial Vehicle Corporations (FVC) in the last quarter of 2009. Preliminary data from this survey has been used to improve the existing estimates for FVCs in the current and financial accounts.
The quarterly financial enterprise surveys cover banking, insurance and pension fund investment, asset financing, treasury, institutional investment, activities of investment funds (i.e. mutual funds, unit trusts and similar collective investment operations), broking and other financial service provision. Financial enterprises, including those engaged in internationally-traded financial service activities, known collectively as IFSC (International Financial Services Centre) enterprises are required to make returns. These returns are predominantly supplied in electronic form but a small number of reporters use paper forms.
Exhaustive coverage is aimed at but, in order to reduce reporting burden, companies with low activity volumes may, on approval from the CSO, provide annual data. Overall, about 5,000 financial entities are surveyed.
The surveys of manufacturing and non-financial service enterprises undertaken by the CSO are also designed to meet the new conceptual and geographical requirements. Coverage is on a sample selection basis, those surveyed being selected on the basis of statistical register information concerning transactions with non-residents. About 500 companies make quarterly and/or annual returns.
The survey information collected for all types of enterprises covers transactions with non-residents concerning purchases and sales of services, income flows, transfers, as well as acquisitions and disposals of foreign assets or liabilities. In order to facilitate compilation of the wider national accounts statistics, the surveys also collect data on transactions of reporting enterprises with residents of Ireland.
Apart from survey data, administrative sources also provide information on non-resident transactions (e.g. the National Treasury Management Agency, on flows associated with Ireland’s foreign debt and other transactions including those associated with the National Pensions Reserve Fund; the Department of Defence, concerning Ireland’s UN military peace-keeping activity; the Department of Foreign Affairs, on expenditure incurred in maintaining Ireland’s embassies and consulates abroad; the Central Bank of Ireland, on reserve assets and other assets/liabilities and associated income flows). Information is also obtained from other sources (e.g. charitable organisations, industry bodies). In addition, information on merchandise exports and imports and on tourism expenditure and receipts is obtained from other CSO inquiries.
Following other periodic enhancements, the compilation system includes the estimated values of a variety of cross-border transactions. These cover (a) direct imports and exports of goods for consumption of private households and not included in the official merchandise trade statistics; (b) improved data on transactions in services (tourism and travel; communications; construction; diplomatic and consular services; cultural services; bloodstock breeding); (c) estimates for income receipts from Irish resident investment in residential and commercial property abroad and for income remittances to the foreign owners of breeding bloodstock based in Ireland, along with improved estimates of the earnings (credits and debits) of students, other cross-border workers and local employees of embassies; (d) estimates for income taxes paid on the earnings of students and other cross-border workers and for the remittances abroad of earnings of immigrant workers in Ireland; and (e) estimates for investment in residential and commercial property abroad by Irish residents.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual.
18.3. Data collection
Process of collection for Credits
Data Collection methods and practies
Compilation methods( used to produce the required data)
Items/sub-items that are estimated( please describe also the estimation)
Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others
100
Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.
100
Transport
90
10
Travel
100
Construction
70
30
Insurance and pension services
100
Financial services
95
5
Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e.
100
Telecommunications, computer, and information services
97
3
Other business services
97
3
Operational lease
100
Personal, cultural, and recreational services
95
5
Government goods and services n.i.e.
90
10
Process of collection for Debits
Data Collection methods and practies
Compilation methods( used to produce the required data)
Items/sub-items that are estimated( please describe also the estimation)
Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others
100
Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.
100
Transport
90
10
Travel
100
Construction
70
30
Insurance and pension services
100
Financial services
95
5
Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e.
100
Telecommunications, computer, and information services
97
3
Other business services
97
3
Operational lease
100
Personal, cultural, and recreational services
95
5
Government goods and services n.i.e.
90
10
18.4. Data validation
On receipt in the CSO, all quarterly (and annual) returns are manually checked for obvious reporting errors. If no errors are apparent, the data are loaded into the Sybase database (BOP-facts) and undergo various automated consistency and plausibility data checks. If the data fail the more important checks, the CSO contacts the company concerned to query the data and make any necessary corrections.
All data are converted to single euro within BOP-facts. Apart from the analyses available within the processing system, further analyses are undertaken using SAS software. Once verified and further processed as necessary, the data from all surveys are summarised to produce the results.
18.5. Data compilation
Imputation (for Non-Response or Incomplete Data Sets)
Estimates are made for partial or complete non-responses using either automated or manual imputation procedures. These estimates are based on previous returns made by the entity or on returns made by similar entities. Data available from Revenue, CBI and CRO are also used in making these estimates. This facility is largely applied only to non-returning smaller companies surveyed, as the larger companies are pursued until the data are supplied.
Grossing and Weighting
Profits and trade in services of the relevant manufacturing and non-financial service companies not covered by the BOP surveys are estimated from Census of Industrial Production and Annual Services Inquiry returns. These are geographically allocated according to the overall country breakdown for the relevant BOP survey and are added to the results of the surveys.
Other Quality Assurance Techniques
The Large Cases Unit (part of national accounts Division) of the CSO carries out data collection and checks the consistency of quarterly and annual data returned by large manufacturing and non-financial services companies for various divisions within the CSO, including the BOP Division. The Large Cases Unit liaises on an on-going basis with these divisions and with any company concerned to determine the reasons for any significant discrepancy or inconsistency. In an on-going effort to improve data quality the Large Cases Unit operates a programme of company visits and liaison so that the CSO becomes aware as early as possible of any material change in companies’ operational, accounting or reporting practices affecting the data returned. BOP personnel often participate in these visits and also make visits independently as and when specific BOP problems need to be resolved. Prior to publication, some further manual checking is also carried out on the consistency of the BOP/IIP results with information available elsewhere, e.g. financial trade data, production statistics and profits data. More in-depth data quality checks are conducted annually against data available to the national accounts Division. Concerning financial enterprises, the quality analyses undertaken by the CSO involve comparison of its results with aggregate data available from other sources. These include representative associations for insurance companies, pension funds, collective investment institutions (CIIs e.g. mutual funds, Undertaking Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS)), government departments, etc. In addition, the CSO and the CBI undertake a detailed reconciliation of aggregate money and banking statistics and BOP/IIP statistics for Monetary Financial Institutions (i.e. credit institutions and money market funds) each quarter. Work is also on-going between the two organisations to reconcile differences between aggregate BOP/IIP data and regulatory data relating to CIIs and other financial intermediaries (OFIs).
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not applicable
18.6. Adjustment
The Bop data are not seasonally adjusted.
To date the results have not been seasonally adjusted as the international standards do not require such treatment. The BOP Financial Account and the IIP transactions and stocks statistics – as well as the FDI and portfolio security statistics - tend to be quite volatile in both magnitude and direction. Sudden changes in trends and patterns can therefore occur depending on actual or anticipated events occurring in local and global financial markets. The Bop current account is relatively stable.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
Services Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (STEC) statistics provide information on the types of enterprises engaged in international trade in services and show how enterprises in different industries supply services and how this relates to their primary activity. STEC disclose additional insights into trade statistics, by allowing the profiling of the enterprises according to selected characteristics such as number of employees, type of ownership and economic activity.
A+B - Agriculture, forestry, and fishing; mining and quarrying,
D+E - Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply; water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities,
I+L+O+P+Q+R+S+T+U - Accommodation and food service activities; real estate activities; public administration, defence; compulsory social security; education; human health and social work activities; other services.
· NACE Sections:
C - Manufacturing,
F - Construction,
G - Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles,
H - Transportation and storage,
J - Information and communication,
K - Financial and insurance activities,
M - Professional, scientific, and technical activities,
N - Administrative and support service activities.
1. Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others
2. Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.
3. Transport
4. Travel
5. Construction
6. Insurance and pension services
7. Financial services
8. Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e.
9. Telecommunications, computer, and information services
10. Other business services
10.1. Research and development services
10.2. Professional and management consulting services
10.3. Technical, trade-related, and other business services
11. Personal, cultural and recreational services
12. Government goods and services, n.i.e.
Enterprise.
The activity breakdown covers NACE sections from A to U.
The product breakdown covers EBOPS 2010 main items.
Ireland
Calendar year.
The STEC data is compiled using the International Trade in Services (ITS) dataset and is linked to the Business Register to include the number of employees variable.
The services exports/imports variables, the Business Register number of employees variable along with the BoP NACE and Ultimate Control (UC) variable provide the building blocks needed to compile STEC.
The STEC data is therefore aligned and consistent with the ITS data.
All data sent to Eurostat are in Thousands of Euro for Euro Area countries and in Thousands of National currency for non-Euro Area countries. The unit of dissemination is Euro.
Imputation (for Non-Response or Incomplete Data Sets)
Estimates are made for partial or complete non-responses using either automated or manual imputation procedures. These estimates are based on previous returns made by the entity or on returns made by similar entities. Data available from Revenue, CBI and CRO are also used in making these estimates. This facility is largely applied only to non-returning smaller companies surveyed, as the larger companies are pursued until the data are supplied.
Grossing and Weighting
Profits and trade in services of the relevant manufacturing and non-financial service companies not covered by the BOP surveys are estimated from Census of Industrial Production and Annual Services Inquiry returns. These are geographically allocated according to the overall country breakdown for the relevant BOP survey and are added to the results of the surveys.
Other Quality Assurance Techniques
The Large Cases Unit (part of national accounts Division) of the CSO carries out data collection and checks the consistency of quarterly and annual data returned by large manufacturing and non-financial services companies for various divisions within the CSO, including the BOP Division. The Large Cases Unit liaises on an on-going basis with these divisions and with any company concerned to determine the reasons for any significant discrepancy or inconsistency. In an on-going effort to improve data quality the Large Cases Unit operates a programme of company visits and liaison so that the CSO becomes aware as early as possible of any material change in companies’ operational, accounting or reporting practices affecting the data returned. BOP personnel often participate in these visits and also make visits independently as and when specific BOP problems need to be resolved. Prior to publication, some further manual checking is also carried out on the consistency of the BOP/IIP results with information available elsewhere, e.g. financial trade data, production statistics and profits data. More in-depth data quality checks are conducted annually against data available to the national accounts Division. Concerning financial enterprises, the quality analyses undertaken by the CSO involve comparison of its results with aggregate data available from other sources. These include representative associations for insurance companies, pension funds, collective investment institutions (CIIs e.g. mutual funds, Undertaking Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS)), government departments, etc. In addition, the CSO and the CBI undertake a detailed reconciliation of aggregate money and banking statistics and BOP/IIP statistics for Monetary Financial Institutions (i.e. credit institutions and money market funds) each quarter. Work is also on-going between the two organisations to reconcile differences between aggregate BOP/IIP data and regulatory data relating to CIIs and other financial intermediaries (OFIs).
BOP data collection is statutory and surveys are conducted by the CSO and by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI). Other data obtained from administrative sources are also used. Following the introduction of a redesigned BOP data collection system in 1998 and up to 2007, the CSO undertook all the necessary survey collection and compilation required. However, following a recent joint initiative involving the CSO and the CBI to rationalize statistical data collection and compilation for the financial sector and also to reduce the burden on data providers the data collection arrangements have changed.
As a consequence, since 2008 the data required from licensed banks (credit institutions) and from investment funds (including money market funds) to meet BOP, IIP and external debt requirements (as well as other statistical demands on both organisations) are being collected quarterly by the CBI under its legislation as well as European legislation[1]. The data are supplied by the CBI to CSO for statistical compilation purposes. The CSO has therefore discontinued its surveys of credit institutions and investment funds but continues to collect the required data from other financial enterprises as well as non-financial enterprises using its ongoing quarterly statutory surveys. These are conducted under the Statistics (Balance of Payments and Financial Accounts) Order, 2016 (S.I. No. 597 of 2016) made under the Statistics Act, 1993. The Central Bank commenced data collection form Financial Vehicle Corporations (FVC) in the last quarter of 2009. Preliminary data from this survey has been used to improve the existing estimates for FVCs in the current and financial accounts.
The quarterly financial enterprise surveys cover banking, insurance and pension fund investment, asset financing, treasury, institutional investment, activities of investment funds (i.e. mutual funds, unit trusts and similar collective investment operations), broking and other financial service provision. Financial enterprises, including those engaged in internationally-traded financial service activities, known collectively as IFSC (International Financial Services Centre) enterprises are required to make returns. These returns are predominantly supplied in electronic form but a small number of reporters use paper forms.
Exhaustive coverage is aimed at but, in order to reduce reporting burden, companies with low activity volumes may, on approval from the CSO, provide annual data. Overall, about 5,000 financial entities are surveyed.
The surveys of manufacturing and non-financial service enterprises undertaken by the CSO are also designed to meet the new conceptual and geographical requirements. Coverage is on a sample selection basis, those surveyed being selected on the basis of statistical register information concerning transactions with non-residents. About 500 companies make quarterly and/or annual returns.
The survey information collected for all types of enterprises covers transactions with non-residents concerning purchases and sales of services, income flows, transfers, as well as acquisitions and disposals of foreign assets or liabilities. In order to facilitate compilation of the wider national accounts statistics, the surveys also collect data on transactions of reporting enterprises with residents of Ireland.
Apart from survey data, administrative sources also provide information on non-resident transactions (e.g. the National Treasury Management Agency, on flows associated with Ireland’s foreign debt and other transactions including those associated with the National Pensions Reserve Fund; the Department of Defence, concerning Ireland’s UN military peace-keeping activity; the Department of Foreign Affairs, on expenditure incurred in maintaining Ireland’s embassies and consulates abroad; the Central Bank of Ireland, on reserve assets and other assets/liabilities and associated income flows). Information is also obtained from other sources (e.g. charitable organisations, industry bodies). In addition, information on merchandise exports and imports and on tourism expenditure and receipts is obtained from other CSO inquiries.
Following other periodic enhancements, the compilation system includes the estimated values of a variety of cross-border transactions. These cover (a) direct imports and exports of goods for consumption of private households and not included in the official merchandise trade statistics; (b) improved data on transactions in services (tourism and travel; communications; construction; diplomatic and consular services; cultural services; bloodstock breeding); (c) estimates for income receipts from Irish resident investment in residential and commercial property abroad and for income remittances to the foreign owners of breeding bloodstock based in Ireland, along with improved estimates of the earnings (credits and debits) of students, other cross-border workers and local employees of embassies; (d) estimates for income taxes paid on the earnings of students and other cross-border workers and for the remittances abroad of earnings of immigrant workers in Ireland; and (e) estimates for investment in residential and commercial property abroad by Irish residents.
Annual.
The data transmission deadline for all STEC tables is 18 months after the end of the reference period (T+18M). The latest reference period is 2023.
The IE STEC tables were transmitted before the transmission deadline.
From a methodological point of view, the comparability across countries is ensured by the implementation of the concepts and definitions set up by the EU legislation and by the application of the complementary guidelines provided by the European business statistics Compilers guide for statistics on services trade by enterprise characteristics (STEC).
