Statistics Austria

Directorate Business Statistics, Unit "Structural Business Statistics"

Guglgasse 13, 1110 Wien, Austria

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 non-financial business economy with the exception of agricultural activities and personal services. Limited information is available on banking, insurance and pension funds.

Main characteristics (variables) of the SBS data category:

• Business demographic variables (e.g. Number of enterprises)
• "Output related" variables (e.g. Turnover, Value added)
• "Input related" variables: labour input (e.g. Employment, Hours worked); goods and services input (e.g. Total of purchases); capital input (e.g. Material investments)

Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE): NACE Rev.1 was used until 2001, NACE Rev. 1.1 since 2002, and NACE Rev 2 is used from 2008 onwards. Key data were double reported in NACE Rev.1.1 and NACE Rev.2 for 2008. From 2009 onwards, only NACE Rev.2 data are available.

The regional breakdown of the EU Member States is based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS). Detailed information about the consecutive NUTS Regulations can be found at Eurostat's website

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)

The SBS coverage was limited to Sections C to K of NACE Rev.1.1 until 2007. Starting from the reference year 2008 data is available for Sections B to N and Division S95 of NACE Rev.2. With 2013 as the first reference year information is published on NACE codes K6411, K6419 and K65 and its breakdown.

The statistical characteristics are defined in Annex I of Commission Regulation (EC) No 250/2009

With reference year 2018 the statistical unit "enterprise" was implemented in SBS as the main observation unit. Before 2018, the enterprise was the same as the legal unit. The local unit is the second oberservation unit in SBS. Reporting units are legal unit and local units.

Statistical units are based on the Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 and the operational rules based on this regulation.

The statistical population includes all active market enterprises of Sections B-J and L-N and S95 in the SBR, active units which either had turnover or employment at any time during the reference period. In the SBR enterprises with employment or at least 10.000 EUR yearly turnover are recorded as active. An additional cut-off threshold is not applied. Legal units out of SBS scope but part of statistical enterprises in the scope of SBS are included - legal units in the scope of SBS which are part of entperises not in the scope of SBS are excluded.

Reference area is Austria.

Registered branches of foreign enterprises are included in SBS if an activity relevant for value added in Austria is carried out or employees are reported to the Austrian Social Security Authorities.

According to definitions, activities abroad of Austrian enterprises are included if the activity abroad is carried out by a non-autonomous local unit of the enterprise.
In some cases the delimitation is very difficult and a certain bias cannot be eliminated for the full target population.

Length of time series: 1995, 1997-2017, 2018-2020

Most important breaks in time series:

2018 (switch from the legal unit to the statistical enterprise)
2008 (switch from NACE Rev. 1.1 to NACE Rev. 2)
2002 (change of national methods)
1997 (change of national methods)

see also chapter 15.2

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.

2020

Data refer to calendar or fiscal year. If a fiscal years deviates from the calendar year, adjustments are made in exceptional (large) cases only.

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. The European Parliament and Council Regulation No 295/2008 was adopted on 14/02/2008 and the provisions of this Regulation are applicable from the reference year 2008. Regulation No 295/2008 has been amended by Commission Regulation (EU) No 446/2014.

Not applicable.

According to Article 19 of the Federal Statistics Act statistics shall be published in a manner that prevents any connection being made with statements concerning specific or identifiable data subjects unless the data subject concerned has no interest warranting protection in his/her data remaining confidential. In the event such connections cannot be ruled out, publication is subject to the explicit prior written consent of the data subject involved.

The SBS Confidentiality charter is the main reference for publication of SBS results on European level.

Aggregates have to be flagged confidential if data refer to less than 3 statistical units (primary confidentiality). Secondary confidentiality pattern is calculated by an algorithm making it impossible to recalculate confidential data by subtraction from row and column aggregates. No dominance criterion is applied, but the right of the enterprises themselves to protect their individual data has to be respected. So to speak, if a company proves dominance in a specific aggregate, the cells of the table might be closed, even if there are more than 3 contributing units. 

For calculation of an efficient secondary confidentiality pattern, a heuristic algorithm, developed by the Quality Management and Methods Unit of Statistics Austria, is applied since reference year 2015.

Dates of the release of SBS results in the first publication media (=internet) is preannounced in the release calendar of Statistics Austria, which is publicly accessible.

Final results are released by end of June (t+18 months), preliminary results released by end of October (t+10 months).

Statistics Austria's release calendar.

Results are disseminated to all users at the same time; standard tables are for free access; more detailed tables in the Statistics Austria dissemination database STATcube are with costs.
Specific data are provided to everyone with a specific request. Feasibility of the request and payment of possible expenses are checked in advance.

Annual

No news releases.

SBS data is disseminated on the Website of Statistics Austria and in thematic paper publications (including a CD).
Website is available in German and English, paper publication in German only. Exceptionally for the reference year 2016 no paper publication was released.

SBS data is disseminated in the online database STATcube on an annual basis - in German and English. STATcube allows the processing of a large amount of data, generating and exporting tables in different formats according to individual needs.
Access is possible by:
Subscription - offers access to larger data volumes, access to data or detailed classifications locked in the Guest Access (depending on the matters), as well as the possibility to store query tables or
Registration without subscription - access to free data only and possibility to store query tables.

Micro-data access (e.g. for researchers) possible under certain conditions from July 2022 onwards. The rules for the micro data access are laid down in an amended Statistical Law which has entered into force at the beginning of the year 2022.

Data are sent to Eurostat to be released as national data and to be used in European aggregates.

Metadata about methodology and quality is available in every paper and electronic publication. The most detailed documentation on methodology and quality is the so called "Standard Documentation", which is released on Statistics Austria's website. The Standard Documentation is available in German; a summary is available in English as well.

Quality documentation is included in the "Standard Documentation" - see 10.6.

Statistics Austria is committed to ensuring the highest quality with respect to the compilation of statistical information. In accordance with the Federal Statistics Act (Article 24), Statistics Austria has to use statistical methods and processes in compliance with internationally recognised scientific principles and standards, conduct ongoing analyses of the statistics with a view to quality improvements and ensure that statistics are as up-to-date as possible. This commitment to quality is also specified in Statistics Austria’s mission statement. In adopting the European Statistics Code of Practice, Statistics Austria has committed to adhering to principles and standards for the production and dissemination of high-quality statistics. As part of the European Statistical System (ESS), Statistics Austria recognises the Quality Declaration of the ESS. The Statistics Council has set up a Quality Assurance Committee, a primary focus of which is the ongoing examination of potential quality improvements

Statistics Austria uses standard-documentation to provide users with information about the underlying concepts, definitions, methods used and the quality of the statistics (meta-information) in a standardised format.

In cooperation with the Statistic Committee’s Quality Assurance Committee, feedback meetings concerning the quality of the different statistical products are held regularly within the framework of Statistics Austria’s quality management programme. In addition quality audits are carried out. The content and objectives concern critical examination of the quality aspects of statistics with particular consideration of the methods and processes used; identification of quality improvement potential; development of recommendations for improvement measures; and improvement of the standard documentation relating to the statistics in question, with special attention to the views of users and external experts.
A high quality is attributed to SBS data in Austria - nevertheless the following issues are raised in the course of the last internal quality audit (in 2021):

• Clear description of consequences of the switch to the statistical enterprise, further availability on data for legal units
• Detailed requests for data on regional level
• Consistency with business demography (envisaged with reference year 2021, implementation of EBS for both domains)

Internal/national:
National and Regional Accounts, Statistical Business Register, Social Statistics, Environmental Statistics, Science and Technology Statistics, Austrian Economic Chamber of Commerce, Austrian Institute of Economic Research and other research institutes, Universities, Ministries, press and media, Central Bank, enterprises, students etc.
External/international:
Eurostat (European Commission), ECB, OECD etc.

Different user needs (SBS Regulation, National Accounts, other user needs) define the requirements for SBS at national level. Beside the discussions at European level, key users are consulted in the course of so called technical subcommittees. A technical subcommittee for enterprise statistics, which is responsible for SBS, comprises representatives from different user groups. There is at least one meeting in the course of the year. In the case of revisions and amendments of particular statistical products ad hoc meetings take place. To fulfil national user needs SBS data published at national level are different from data sent to Eurostat.

A survey related to the user’s satisfaction is organized by Statistics Austria for key statistical projects. However, the information evolving from this survey, which was carried out in 2021 for the last time, does not provide special information for SBS, because various business statistics for trade and services as well as industries and construction are covered in total. Nevertheless results can be used for evaluating the fulfilment of user needs in general. Users have attributed an adequate satisfaction with results.

National data are complete.

Data collection deadline: 9 months after the end of the reference year
National dissemination of preliminary results: 10 months after the end of the reference year
Post-collection phase: 14 months after the end of the reference year
National dissemination: 18 months after the end of the reference year

Transmission deadline to Eurostat was respected for the reference year 2020

For the entire national territory the same concepts and definitions are applied. In general definitions of SBS Regulation are applied - but different accounting schemes (IFRS not obligatory in Austria) may have an influence on comparability.

1995: Census for all economic activities
1997 – 2001: Stratified random sample with free grossing up; yearly rotation of sampled units
2002 – 2007: New statistical law, better access to administrative sources and increasing coverage of BR; new strategy for compiling SBS results (cut-off sample and model based estimation in combination with use of administrative sources for enterprises below thresholds)
2008 - 2017: Introduction of NACE Rev.2 and SBS-Recast-Regulation

from 2018: Implementation of the statistical enterprise

Preliminary data at t+10 are revised with final data at t+18 months.

For calculation of preliminary results already available (and at least partly checked) survey data, administrative sources, STS in industries and construction and an estimation model is applied. For trade and services the estimation model is principally based on SBS results of the preceding year. Micro data of the previous year are extrapolated either by using enterprise specific rates from VAT or activity based rates. Employment data is taken from social security authorities and SBR directly.
Opposite to trade and services, in industries and construction synergies with especially the STS is used and so to speak additional sources of information for model based estimation are implemented.
For reasons of data quality additional plausibility checks are carried out for larger enterprises and enterprises with major deviations from the previous year. Birth and death of enterprises and NACE changes are also checked.
On aggregated level comparisons with STS results and other available information are carried out. A comparison with final results of SBS is also carried out and analysed.
The data revision (RMAR for preliminary data versus published final data for Annexes I to IV) for 2020 is 0,0225 for turnover and 0,0172 for persons employed. So the concept and models for calculation of preliminary data work quite satisfactory, but it has to be considered that for reference year 2019 preliminary data were based on legal units and final data on statistical enterprises.

Source data is a sample survey (cut-off sample) for legal units above legally defined threshold values and model based estimation using administrative data and SBR for enterprises below thresholds and legal units part ot statistical enterprises in the SBS scope but the legel unit itself is out of SBS scope. Consolidated data for main profit and loss account items were asked from the national decision centre (NDC) for complex statistical enterprises of the group; this was done in the course of the annual SBS survey for the largest about 80 EG.

The strategy is to survey all legal units above the legally defined threshold values. It should be noted that available information from STS in industries and construction is also used. Because of these synergies the list of SBS variables in the questionnaires is reduced for most of the enterprises of sections B-F of NACE. For all enterprises below threshold values, model based estimation in combination with SBR and different administrative sources are applied. Both, the methodological and the national legal framework do not allow conventional grossing up, because the so called “concentration” sample (cut-off survey) is not a representative sample.
Characteristics of the cut-off sample:
The effective sample size for the reference year 2020 was about 33 000 enterprises (9,2% of the population), covering 76% of employees and 86% of total turnover.
Threshold values:
NACE B-F:
20 persons employed respectively flexible turnover thresholds of 1.5 Mio. EUR resp. 2.5 Mio. EUR if a legally defined coverage per NACE division is not reached.
NACE G-N, S95 excl. 64, 65:
Activity based flexible turnover thresholds of 500 TEUR, 1.100 TEUR, 2.100 TEUR, 3.200 TEUR and/or alternative employment thresholds of 10 or 20 persons employed
Administrative data sources:
Social security data: Variable 16130, 16110
Turnover and Income tax data: Variables 12110, 13110
Wage tax data: Variable 13320

In 2018, income tax data has been used for calculation of purchases of goods and services/Purchases of goods of services for resale for the first time in the course of model based estimation of enterprises below thresholds. As purchases of goods of services are used for the calculation of SBS aggregates (especially production value and value added), the use of this administrative source resulted in an increase of quality of units calculated by model based estimation. It has to be noted that in some cases there was an increase in purchases of goods of services with the consequence that value added of the economic activities has declined.
Micro data are used as basic data for some characteristics (e.g. detailed breakdown for employment variables in services), for imputation in cases of non-response and for mass imputation for units below survey thresholds.

The frequency to which the used administrative data sources are updated is satisfactory. Administrative data are subject to several revisions with increasing degree of completeness. The relation between reporting units and legal units is as follows:
For tax data: 1:1; 1:n in exceptional cases; n:1 in the case of group taxation of enterprise groups
For social security data 1:1, 1:n for some cases, but as there is a link in the SBR to all social security accounts of an enterprise data aggregation at enterprise level is no problem.
Frame:
The frame from which the sample is drawn is the SBR of Statistics Austria. The frequency of updating the SBR is as follows:
Register of companies: Daily
Tax Register: Monthly
Social security register: weekly
Membership file of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber: Weekly
Information obtained from economic surveys and classification notification: ad hoc
The sample in generally updated every year - with the possibility of slight updates in the course of the survey.
The classification of the principal activity is based on the value added. If this information is not available turnover or employment is used as approximation. Secondary activities are determined in the same way as principal activities. Ancillary activities are classified with the principal activity.  A top-down approach is applied for classification of units.
The principal activity can change whenever new information is available but in general the principal activity is held stable in the SBR within a calendar year with the exception of the reorganization of an observation unit. Within a calendar year it should not be changed for reasons of continuity and coherence with short-term statistics. Enterprises which are part of the cut-off survey for SBS are directly asked to state their principal activity. The SBR is updated with activities changed in the course of surveys. Additionally enterprises are informed about their activity classification in the course of classification notifications.

Annual data collection

Data collection from the reporting units is with electronic questionnaires (99,7% for reference year 2020). Postal questionnaires are allowed in exceptional cases only (if the technical preconditions in the reporting unit are not given). 9,2% of the population have received a request for reporting (reference year 2020). The respondents are contacted by postal letter or mail. Access codes for the electronic questionnaires are enclosed. Non-response is monitored in the SBR. The following actions are taken to speed up or increase the response:
- reminder for the closing date of the survey
- one or two e-mail reminder after the closing date, if required combined with at least one postal reminder (certified mail with delivery confirmation)
- reminder by telephone (mainly for very important enterprises)
- Finally Statistics Austria gives notice of enterprises refusing to respond to administrative authorities.
Administrative data:
Administrative units are linked to reporting units in the SBR; administrative data relevant for SBS is extracted from SBR and/or different databases and depicted in the data editing tool and provided as data files for model based estimation.

Impact of COVID-19 on data collection:

COVID-19 subsidies were added as an additional item to the SBS questionnaire – so product and turnover related COVID-19 subsidies were reported by the respondents. Subsidies for short time work were not included. For enterprises below thresholds subsidies were calculated – using activity based information from the survey - with model based estimation. In addition information available from the Austrian database on fiscal transparency were used for plausibility checks.
Treatment of COVID-19 subsidies in the course of calculation of aggregates: see 18.5 data compilation

First checks are carried out in the electronic questionnaire, but most of the checks on micro level are done in the course of data editing (mainly intra-dataset checks but also intra domain or intra source checks with information from administrative sources or other statistical domains).
Data editing is done by using a special IT tool, where predefined plausibility checks are carried out resulting in real errors, possible errors and information points. First of all data are checked on the lefvel of legal units. If all legal units of a statistical enterprise are checked, data consolidation is carried out for large units - data for smaller enterprises are summed up. All in all there are more than 100 checks concerning the structure of legal units, comparisons with administrative sources and the BR, checks within a category of variables and checks between categories of variables, but also checks between statistical units. Real errors have to be corrected, possible errors and information points have to be checked by our data editing staff and possibly revised or confirmed as correct.

The second stage of data validation is done on macro level (aggregated data, ratios, comparison with results of other statistics, etc.). An important step in the course of data validation is checking the impact and quality of model based estimation on overall results by economic activity. Data visualisation is applied as well.

The final checks are done in InputHall prior to the data transmission to Eurostat, but many of the data checks are already implemented in the data editing tool.

The data compilation process distinguishes between primary survey, model based estimation and data consolidation. After data editing process of survey data is finished, model based estimation is carried out, for which survey data is beside SBR and administrative sources an important source of information for calculating model parameters. For reasons of consolidation model based estimation for legal units belonging to enterprises to be consolidated is carried out earlier. Unit non-response is imputed in the course of model based estimation. In addition to model based estimation the following methods have been used for unit and item non response in the course of the data editing process:
Information from administrative sources
Annual accounts
Imputation based on information from the previous year
Use of other statistical information (e.g. STS)
Mean imputation
Automatic corrections in the data editing tool (predefined corrections of selected variables under certain conditions to save time and resources for data editing)
Grossing up is not applied - instead of grossing up a "mass imputation" for all enterprises below thresholds values and unit non response is done by model based estimation. Model based estimation is done on micro level. SBS results are compiled by aggregating the survey data and estimated data to overall results by economic activity, size classes and regions.

Consolidation:

• Data for statistical enterprises of the largest enterprise groups were consolidated with the use of consolidated accounts, financial statements of legal units, SBS reports of legal units and reported data on the basis of SU enterprise from the NDC.
• Internal flows for non-additive variables were identified with the help of data sources mentioned above and consolidated, where necessary; additive variables were summed up. Flows between legal units of the same enterprise were consolidated, flows between legal units of different enterprises in the same group were considered as market values.
• Data for statistical enterprises of smaller groups were summed up by using data of the legal units; for the coming reference years the use of automated consolidation methods are envisaged.

Impact of COVID-19 on data compilation:

For calculation of aggregates, COVID-19 subsidies were considered according to the “old regulatory framework”, Commission Regulation (EC) No 250/2009. So COVID-19 subsidies are not considered for the calculation of production value. For the calculation of value added these subsidies were already considered. Depending on the impact of COVID-19 in different economic activities a decline of turnover and production value was observed. But it has to be noted, that fiscal years deviating from the calendar year had an impact on results for some activities – for these activities the consequences of COVID-19 will be shown in the results for the reference year 2021.

Short term work was considered as follows: Persons in short tern work are included in persons employed; as government compensation for short term work was paid by the enterprises to the employees, these payments are included in “wages and salaries”. The variable ‘Hours worked’ do not contain
downtime of employees.

If the accounting period of an enterprise differs from the calendar year the units are asked to indicate the precise reference period provided. A correction to bring it in accordance with the reference period is done in cases with relevance for overall results for data.

For the reference year 2021 the implementation of the requirements of the EBS Regulation will take place. With this implementation a conceptual change will take place - the most important conceptual change will be the inclusion of enterprises below the 10.000 EUR turnover threshold - so the population of SBS will be the same as for BD from reference year 2021 onwards.

Please note that Statistics Austria has got a new Website in June 2022 - due to that fact links have been adapted.

Information with regard ro teatment of COVID-19 subsidies in SBS (reference 2020) can be found in chapters 18.3 Data collection and 18.5 Data compilation.