Statistics Denmark

Business Dynamics

Sejrøgade 11, 2100 København Ø

Structural business statistics (SBS) describes the structure, conduct and performance of economic activities, down to the most detailed activity level (several hundred economic sectors). SBS covers all activities of the business economy with the exception of agricultural activities, public administration and (largely) non-market services such as education and health. Main characteristics (variables) of the SBS data category:

• Business demographic variables (e.g. Number of active enterprises)

• "Output related" variables (e.g. Net turnover, Value added)

• "Input related" variables: labour input (e.g. Number of employees and self-employed persons, Hours worked by employees); goods and services input (e.g. Purchases of goods and services); capital input (e.g. Gross investments)

Business services statistics (BS) collection contains harmonised statistics on business services. From 2008 onwards BS become part of the regular mandatory annual data collection of SBS. The BS’s data requirement includes variable “Turnover” broken down by products and by type of residence of client. 

The annual regional statistics collection includes three characteristics due by NUTS-2 country region and detailed on NACE Rev 2 division level (2-digits).  

Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE):  NACE Rev.2 is used from 2008 onwards. Key data were double reported in NACE Rev.1.1 and NACE Rev.2 only for 2008. From 2002 to 2007 NACE Rev. 1.1 was used and until 2001 NACE Rev.1

The regional breakdown of the EU Member States is based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS). 

The product breakdown is based on the Classification of Products by Activity (CPA) as stated in the Regulation establishing CPA 2008 and its amending Commission Regulation (EU) No 1209/2014 (from reference year 2015 onwards).

Starting reference year 2021 onwards SBS cover the economic activities of market producers within the NACE Rev. 2 Sections B to N, P to R and Divisions S95 and S96.
Until 2007 the SBS coverage was limited to Sections C to K of NACE Rev.1.1 and from the reference year 2008 to 2020 data was available for Sections B to N and Division S95 of NACE Rev.2.

From 2008 reference year the data collection Business services covers NACE Rev 2 codes: J62, N78, J582, J631, M731, M691, M692, M702, M712, M732, M7111, and M7112.
From 2013, as the first reference year, to 2020 information is published on NACE codes K6411, K6419 and K65 and its breakdown.

SBS constitutes an important and integrated part of the new European Business Statistics Regulation N° 2152/2019

Data requirements, simplifications and technical definitions are defined in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197

Enterprise: Usually corresponding to the legal unit, e.g. limited-liability corporations, sole traders, partnerships, etc.
In some cases several legal units which are run as one entity are gathered into one enterprise.

Establishment: An establishment or part of an enterprise, that is situated in a single location and produces one -- or mainly one -- sort of goods and services.

Enterprise and establishment in the private secondary and tertiary industries.

Denmark

1999-2021

Not applicable.

• Number of enterprises and number of local units are expressed in units.

• Monetary data are expressed in millions of €.

• Employment variables are expressed in units.

• Per head values are expressed in thousands of € per head. 

Ratios are expressed in percentages.

2021

The accounts statistics for a given year t, relate to annual accounts ending in the period from 1 May of year t to 30 April of year t+1.

Starting with reference year 2021 two new regulations currently form the legal basis of SBS:

• Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics (EBS Regulation), and
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements (general implementing act) pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152

Year 1995 was the first year for the implementation of the Council Regulation No 58/97 (SBS Regulation).

The Council Regulation No 58/97 has been amended three times: by Council Regulation No 410/98, Commission Regulation No 1614/2002 and European Parliament and Council Regulation No 2056/2002. As a new amendment of the basic Regulation it was decided to recast the Regulation No 58/97 in order to obtain a new "clean" legal text. In 2008 the European Parliament and Council adopted Regulation No 295/2008 and the provisions of this Regulation were applicable from the reference year 2008 to reference year 2020. Regulation No 295/2008 was amended by Commission Regulation (EU) No 446/2014.

Not applicable.

In the compilation of the account statistics the confidentiality policy of Statistics Denmark is followed. More information about Information security and data confidentiality can be found here: https://www.dst.dk/en/OmDS/strategi-og-kvalitet/datasikkerhed-i-danmarks-statistik

If one or two of the units in a group accounts for XX% (XX is confidential) or more of the turnover, the figures for the group are not declared and are simply suppressed (primary confidentiality). The secondary confidentiality is used to reach the desired protection for risky cells, it is necessary to suppress additional non-risky cells.

The program Tau Argus is used for confidentiality. There is no expectation of either more or fewer confidential cells in the future.

The publication date appears in the release calendar. The date is confirmed in the weeks before.

The Release Calendar can be accessed on Statistics Denmark's website.

Statistics are always published at 8:00 a.m. at the day announced in the release calendar. No one outside of Statistics Denmark can access the statistics before they are published. Theme publications etc. may be published at other times of the day. The National Statistician can decide that such publications may be released before their official publication time, e.g. to the media and other stakeholders.

Annual.

The figures are published annually in a news release in Danish. 

Summaries are given in the Statistical Ten-Year Review in Danish.

The accounts statistics are available online from bank Statbank Denmark.

The survey data are organized in annual files comprising a complete set of accounting items for every single business enterprise and its component units (establishments). The survey files can easily yield alternative breakdowns and tabulations, in addition to those published. There are also some files ("sum files") containing aggregations for activities, kinds of ownership, size groups and regions.

Rules concerning external users’ access to microdata. 

The survey data are organized in annual files comprising a complete set of accounting items for every single business enterprise and its component units (establishments). The survey files can easily yield alternative breakdowns and tabulations, in addition to those published.

Available in English on website http://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/dokumentation/documentationofstatistics/accounts-statistics-for-non-agricultural-private-sector

A description of concepts and methods is published in English on Statistics Denmarks website https://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/dokumentation/documentationofstatistics/accounts-statistics-for-non-agricultural-private-sector

Statistics Denmark follows the principles in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and uses the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF) for the implementation of the principles. This involves continuous decentralized and central control of products and processes based on documentation following international standards. The central quality assurance function reports to the Working Group on Quality. Reports include suggestions for improvement that are assessed, decided and subsequently implemented.

As with all questionnaire and administrative surveys, statistical uncertainty must be taken into account. However, the quality of the statistics is generally considered to be high.

The statistics are more uncertain at workplace level than at enterprise level, as the distribution method rests on assumptions. Despite the uncertainty, however, it is assessed that the information is reliable at the main sector and regional level.

Users: Public authorities, Eurostat, employers' and employees' federations, private firms, politicians, scientists, economists, journalists, students.

The statistics have many users and are widely used. Users are particularly pleased to use the statistics as it is the most basic source of information for industry's general structural development.

There is no user satisfaction survey.

For some industries no detailed figures are published due to confidentiality.

Some items of the statistical questionnaire go beyond the level of disclosure prescribed by the annual accounts legislation. A case in point is the question concerning expenditure on fuel and energy. In those cases it is more difficult or more trouble for the firms to provide the requested information, and it is likely that some underreporting occurs.

Investment is another subject which is not itemized in the annual accounts, but information on the subject can be deduced from a separate table in the notes to the accounts where acquisitions and disposals of fixed assets are specified. So investment too could be underreported to some extent by those respondents who fill in and return the questionnaires. 2005 is the first year where investment information is available for the firms from SKAT, which means that the total investment estimates is assumed to be more reliable from this year.

The accounts statistics are less reliable at the establishment level than at the enterprise level because the allocation procedures are based on assumptions. But also at the establishment level the published results for major activity groups and for counties are deemed to be reliable.

The information contained in account statistics is from a combination of sample and administrative data obtained from the TAX Authority and the Danish Business Authority. We have information on number of active enterprises number of employees and self-employed individuals for all enterprises in Denmark, which means sampling error irrelevant for these metrics. Other key information such as net turnover and value added are collected for many enterprises in Denmark, although a significant portion of this data is missing. To address these gaps, we utilize the Ratio Imputation method to impute missing data.

Coefficient of variation (CV) is the measure to assess the precision of the figures. It is a measure of variability when the standard deviation is proportional to the mean. In most cases, the lower the coefficient of variation the better because it means the spread of data values is low relative to the mean. This special combination of a sample and additional information from the TAX-authority and the Danish Business Authority means that one can not use standard calculations and formulas when the spread is calculated. When you have information from several sources, it is not possible to calculate the exact spread - but only approximate. The method chosen to calculate approximate values ​​for the spread is to take samples in the sample (Jackknife method) and utilizing SAS software for analysis.

Population is defined by the industry in which the enterprises are registered in the Business Register. Inactive enterprises and enterprises with very limited activity are not included in the statistics. Uncertainty as a result of lapses has been sought to be minimised, i.a. in the event of repeated withdrawals in the event of non-reporting. For the financial year 2021, accounting data was received from 96 per cent of the enterprises that were withdrawn in the sample. Incorrect data reported and misunderstandings are minimized by checking the reported figures. In the year 2021, the sample was 10,000 legal units, corresponding to 3 percent of the population. The sample coverage rate in terms of number of employees is 65 per cent. 

It is assumed that the legal units for which information has been received from SKAT or the Danish Business Authority, in the same industries and with the same form of ownership, are comparable to legal units in the sample, which is why missing items in the tax accounts or annual accounts can be calculated from the main items, based on those in the sample reported legal units.

The statistics are scheduled to appear within as preliminary on enterprise level 6 months after the end of the reference year (April 30th), and as final data 14 months after the end of the reference year (April 30th). On establishments the statistics appears along with the final data dissemination.

The statistics are usually published without delay in relation to the scheduled date.

Every year figures are submitted to the statistical office of EU, Eurostat. This includes special industry aggregates, not published nationally. Data for all EU countries can be found in the Eurostat database. The statistics are produced following the principles of an EU regulation, so the results are comparable.

The purpose of Accounts statistics is to analyze the activity level and of the structure of the Danish business sector. This means that the statistics should be seen as a primary source of financial data for analytical studies of Danish business enterprises, including data required for the evaluation and conception of Government policies and decisions affecting the business community. Moreover, the accounts statistics are an essential input to the Danish national accounts statistics, and they provide the bulk of Denmark's contribution to EUROSTAT's structural business statistics at European level. 

From 2005 the following accounts data are available from SKAT: turnover, consumption of goods, depreciations, profit or loss before financial and extraordinary items and corporation tax, profit or loss before corporation tax, corporation tax, closing stocks, fixed assets, capital and reserves, total assets/liabilities, increase in investment, and decrease in investment. Furthermore are from SKAT received employers' reports on the wages and salaries to their employees. Results are published at the national level relating to enterprises (legal units) and also at the regional level relating to workplaces.  The coverage was extended to air transport, post and telecommunications from 2001.

Starting with the reference year 2002 The Danish Law on Annual Reports was revised. Among the major changes can be mentioned:

a) Intangibles and financial fixed assets and also assets acquired by financial leasing must to a higher extent than earlier be included in the balance sheet, and as a principal rule it must be valued at market prices, whereas earlier it could alternatively be valued at historical cost prices or the like.

b) Work in progress, not for own account (contract work), is moved from current stocks to debts receivable.

The accounts statistics do not cover inactive businesses and enterprises with very limited activity. The threshold limit regarding the level of economic activity required, was raised substantially with effect from the reference year 1999. 

There is coherence between SBS, IFATS, Business Demography, Business register, National Accounts and Labor Statistics.

There is consistency between SBS and IFATS. There is consistency between SBS and Business Demography. There is consistency between SBS and Business register for the population and the variables that are obtained from Business register. SBS is a significant input to the National Accounts. SBS is used as a backbone in the National Accounts.  The labor statistics are used to calculate employment variables that are not found in the Business register.

The SBS statistics are internally consistent with the main sub-aggregates (e.g. the total for different size classes, NACE, NUTS, CPA etc.).

The response burden imposed on business enterprises in reporting data for the accounts statistics was estimated at 4.3 mio. DKK.

Statistics Denmark revises published figures in accordance with the Revision Policy for Statistics Denmark. The common procedures and principles of the Revision Policy are for some statistics supplemented by a specific revision practice.

For larger method shifts or detection of errors, the figures may be revised.

A) Information from Statistics Denmark is obtained directly from the enterprises by means of online reporting from the enterprises included in the sample. The questionnaire follows as closely as possible the Danish Financial Statements Act, and the information obtained undergoes a systematic troubleshooting in Statistics Denmark. In the process of troubleshooting the information, an automatic debugging system has been set up to report errors if the internal consistency that must be in an accounting, is not met. In addition, the debugging system notifies you if there is any information that seems unlikely when compared with any previously submitted information or information from other enterprises in the same stratum (ownership type / industry / size group). This error or unlikely information is checked and corrected, possibly by contacting the enterprise. For these enterprises, the accounting information must be considered very reliable, and this group accounted for 77 per cent in 2021 of total revenue and 66 per cent of the total liabilities (including the enterprises in B below).

B) All Danish pharmacies submit accounting information to the Danish Medicines Agency, which sends Statistics Denmark copies thereof. This data is debugged very little.

C) The accounting information provided by SKAT is not as detailed as on the questionnaires. Initially, the accounting items from SKAT are considered reliable as they are used in connection with the tax assessment. The data is debugged overall, for example compared to other sources and previous years, accounts that are considered unlikely are omitted from the statistics. The enterprises covered in the statistics by the information from SKAT in 2021 accounted for 11 per cent of total revenue and 3 per cent of total liabilities.

D) The accounting information provided by the Danish Business Agency in XBRL format is also not as detailed as on the questionnaires. In principle, the accounting records of the Danish Business Authority are considered reliable, as they are used in connection with reporting annual accounts to the Danish Business Agency. The data is debugged overall, for example compared to other sources and previous years, accounts that are considered unlikely are omitted from the statistics. In 2021, the enterprises covered by the statistics from the Danish Business Authority accounted for 1 per cent of total revenue and 27 per cent of total liabilities.

Annual data collection. The accounts statistics for a given year t, relate to annual accounts ending in the period from 1 May of year t to 30 April of year t+1.

Direct surveying. The most thorough coverage is extended to the firms that are selected for direct surveying. They are given the choice of either filling in a lengthy online questionnaire or online submitting their annual accounts plus detailed specifications. The questionnaire is modelled on the list of items set out in the Danish annual accounts legislation, so as to facilitate responding.

Online form and instructions can be found on the information page (in Danish).

The data obtained by direct surveying are keyed into a data entry system which comprises error detection and verification procedures. Thus, the data are checked for accounting inconsistencies, and warning messages are written out if significant deviations are found when comparing with last year's data or with figures for firms in the same stratum (form of ownership / activity / size group). Frequently the respondents are contacted for clarification. The resulting data for the direct-surveyed firms are regarded as highly reliable.

In connection with dissemination of preliminary data, a limited validation is conducted, mainly focused on the largest and most important units.

Direct surveying. The most thorough coverage is extended to the firms that are selected for direct surveying. They are given the choice of either filling in a lengthy online questionnaire or online submitting their annual accounts plus detailed specifications. The questionnaire is modelled on the list of items set out in the Danish annual accounts legislation, so as to facilitate responding.

If there is no response, one or more online reminders are sent to the companies. If there is still no response, a phone call is made to the companies and a letter is sent online and in paper format to the companies. If there is still no response, the case can be handed over to the police. If there is still no response, the accounting information provided by the SKAT and Danish Business Agency in XBRL format is used, if the data is available.

Not relevant for this statistic.

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