Archive:Legal and accounting services statistics - NACE Rev. 2
- Data from April 2013. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.
This article presents an overview of statistics for legal and accounting services in the European Union (EU), as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 69.
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(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
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(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
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Main statistical findings
Structural profile
Just over one million enterprises operated in the legal and accounting services sector (Division 69) in the EU-27 in 2010. Together they employed 3.3 million persons, estimated to be around 2.5 % of the non-financial business economy (Sections B to J and L to N and Division 95) workforce and 29.8 % of those persons employed within professional, scientific and technical activities (Section M). The value added generated by the EU-27’s legal and accounting services was EUR 169.4 billion in 2010, approximately 2.9 % of the non-financial business economy total and 30.2 % of the professional, scientific and technical activities total. As such, based upon both value added and employment measures, this sector was the largest among the seven NACE divisions within professional, scientific and technical activities.
The apparent labour productivity of the EU-27’s legal and accounting services sector in 2010 was EUR 51.4 thousand of value added per person employed, which was slightly above the professional, scientific and technical activities average (EUR 50.7 thousand per person employed) and also higher than the non-financial business economy average of EUR 44.8 thousand per person employed. Average personnel costs were EUR 36.8 thousand per employee, midway between the non-financial business economy average (EUR 30.9 thousand per employee) and the professional, scientific and technical activities average (EUR 42.9 thousand per employee). The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio, which combines the two previous indicators and shows the extent to which value added per person employed covers average personnel costs per employee, was 139.8 % for the EU-27’s legal and accounting services in 2010. This was somewhat below the non-financial business economy average of 144.8 % but, due to the lower average personnel costs, was well above the 118.2 % average for professional, scientific and technical activities average.
The gross operating rate, which is the relation between the gross operating surplus and turnover, is a measure of operating profitability and was 34.7 % for the EU-27’s legal and accounting services sector in 2010. This rate was 3.4 times as high as the non-financial business economy average (10.1 %) and 1.9 times as high as the professional, scientific and technical activities average (18.7 %). This was the highest level of operating profitability (using this measure) for the EU-27 in 2010 among the seven NACE divisions within the professional, scientific and technical activities and the fourth highest among all NACE divisions within the non-financial business economy.
Sectoral analysis
The legal and accounting services sector is composed of two groups, namely legal activities (Group 69.1) and accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy (Group 69.2). In the EU-27 these two subsectors contributed very similar levels of value added, while the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector had a higher share of sectoral employment (56.7 %) — see Figure 1.
The relatively high EU-27 apparent labour productivity figure for the whole of the legal and accounting services sector in 2010 was pulled upwards by the legal activities subsector where apparent labour productivity was EUR 58.9 thousand per person employed; for the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector, apparent labour productivity was EUR 45.6 thousand per person employed, which was slightly above the non-financial business economy average (EUR 44.8 thousand).
Despite having higher apparent labour productivity, the legal activities subsector had slightly lower average personnel costs than the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector in the EU-27, although average personnel costs per employee remained above the non-financial business economy average in 2010. The combination of higher apparent labour productivity and lower average personnel costs resulted in a much higher wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for the EU-27’s legal activities subsector (161.3 %) than for the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector (123.6 %). Although the latter was below the non-financial business economy average (144.8 %), it was higher than the professional, scientific and technical activities average (118.2 %).
A large difference in the two subsector’s EU-27 gross operating rates was also observed in 2010, although both subsectors recorded relatively high profitability (based on this measure). The 26.8 % rate that was recorded for the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector was above the professional, scientific and technical activities average (18.7 %), while the 43.0 % rate for the legal activities subsector was the fifth highest among all of the NACE groups within the non-financial business economy in 2010.
Country analysis
The largest legal and accounting services sector among the EU Member States in 2010 was in the United Kingdom which contributed 22.9 % of EU-27 value added. This large share was boosted by the United Kingdom’s 26.3 % share of EU-27 value added in the legal activities subsector; the United Kingdom’s 19.6 % share of EU-27 value added in the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector was the second largest share, behind Germany (20.0 %).
In relative terms, Luxembourg was the most specialised EU Member State in 2010 for both subsectors, as 8.4 % of non-financial business economy value added in Luxembourg was derived from legal and accounting services, split 5.4 % for the accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax consultancy subsector and 3.0 % for legal activities. Among all of the NACE divisions within the non-financial business economy, the legal and accounting services sector ranked second for Luxembourg in terms of its contribution to non-financial business economy value added when compared with the corresponding average for the whole of the EU-27. Indeed, the level of specialisation (based on value added) in these services in Luxembourg was far greater than in any other Member State, as the next most specialised Member States, namely Cyprus and the United Kingdom, generated 5.5 % and 4.2 % of their non-financial business economy value added in the legal and accounting services sector. Romania was the least specialised Member State, as the legal and accounting services sector contributed 0.5 % of Romanian non-financial business economy value added in 2010; none of the other Member States recorded shares that were less than 1.2 % (Bulgaria and Estonia).
While the legal and accounting services sector contributed 2.9 % of the non-financial business economy value added that was generated in the EU-27 in 2010, the corresponding shares for non-member countries were consistently lower, ranging from 2.2 % in Switzerland and 2.0 % in Turkey (data are for 2009), down to a low of 1.5 % for both Croatia and Norway, where the relative weight of the legal and accounting services sector was almost half that of the EU-27 average.
A majority of the EU Member States recorded wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for legal and accounting services in 2010 that were below their non-financial business economy average. The largest difference was in Hungary, where the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for the legal and accounting services sector was 99.7 % compared with a non-financial business economy average of 169.8 %; Hungary was the only Member State (for which data are available in 2010) where the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for this sector was below 100 % (the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for legal and accounting services stood at 85.5 % in Greece for 2009). By contrast, Italy recorded a wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio of 161.2 % for legal and accounting services and this was 35.1 percentage points above the average Italian ratio for the whole of the non-financial business economy (126.1 %). Belgium, Austria, Poland, Germany, France and the United Kingdom were the only other Member States (aside from Italy) to report that wage-adjusted labour productivity was higher in the legal and accounting services sector than it was for the whole of the non-financial business economy. The highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio in the legal and accounting services sector was recorded for Romania, at 201.2 % in 2010; Turkey recorded a slightly higher rate in 2009 (204.1 %).
The high gross operating rate observed for the EU-27’s legal and accounting services sector in 2010 was repeated across all Member States, as the gross operating rate for legal and accounting services was consistently higher than that for the non-financial business economy as a whole. The highest profitability rate (52.1 %) was recorded in Italy, some 4.8 times as high as the average for the Italian non-financial business economy, and the highest gross operating rate recorded in Italy among all of the NACE divisions in the non-financial business economy. The second highest gross operating rate for legal and accounting services was 38.2 % in the United Kingdom, which was the eighth highest rate among all of the NACE divisions in the United Kingdom’s non-financial business economy. Profitability rates (using this measure) were also in excess of 35 % for the legal and accounting services sector in Ireland, Poland, Germany, Portugal and Austria. Sweden recorded the lowest gross operating rate among the Member States, but the 18.0 % rate that was registered for the Swedish legal and accounting services sector was well above the average rate of 10.1 % that was recorded for the whole of the Swedish non-financial business economy.
Size class analysis
There were just over one million micro enterprises (employing fewer than 10 persons) active within the EU-27’s legal and accounting services sector in 2010. Together they generated EUR 75.3 billion of added value (44.5 % of the sectoral total), which was twice as high as the shares of value added reported for large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons) or small enterprises (employing 10 to 49 persons); the relative weight of medium-sized enterprises (employing 50 to 249 persons) was considerably lower (11.3 % of sectoral value added).
In employment terms, the relative importance of micro enterprises within the EU-27’s legal and accounting services workforce was even higher: they employed 1.8 million persons in 2010, equivalent to 54.8 % of the sectoral total, and 2.5 times as high as the 21.9 % share recorded for small enterprises which was the next largest.
Combining this information on employment and value added shares, it was apparent that the labour productivity of micro enterprises within the EU-27’s legal and accounting services sector was lower than that for enterprises in other size classes. On average, each person employed within a micro enterprise generated EUR 41.7 thousand of value added in 2010. There were increasing returns to scale, as EU-27 apparent labour productivity rose to a high of EUR 83.9 thousand of value added per person among large enterprises operating within the legal and accounting services sector, double the ratio recorded for micro enterprises.
Large enterprises employed more than one fifth of the legal and accounting services workforce in 2010 in Ireland, the Netherlands and Denmark, their share peaking at 34.6 % in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom was the only EU Member State (for which data are available) to report that its highest share of value added within this sector was generated by large enterprises (47.9 % of the legal and accounting services total in 2010); in each of the remaining Member States the highest share of sectoral value added was attributed to micro enterprises.
Indeed, the legal and accounting services sector was dominated, in almost every EU Member State, by small and medium-sized enterprises, and in particular, by micro enterprises. The share of micro enterprises in the legal and accounting services workforce peaked at 86.3 % in Portugal and 85.7 % in Italy, while Slovenia and Latvia also reported that more than four out of every five persons working within this sector were employed by micro enterprises in 2010; this was also true for Croatia among the non-member countries. Eight additional Member States recorded micro enterprises accounting for more than 70 % of their legal and accounting services workforce.
Data sources and availability
The analysis presented in this article is based on the main dataset for structural business statistics (SBS) and size class data, all of which are published annually.
The main series provides information for each EU Member State as well as a number of non-member countries at a detailed level according to the activity classification NACE. Data are available for a wide range of variables.
In structural business statistics, size classes are generally defined by the number of persons employed. A limited set of the standard structural business statistics variables (for example, the number of enterprises, turnover, persons employed and value added) are analysed by size class, mostly down to the three-digit (group) level of NACE. The main size classes used in this article for presenting the results are:
- small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): with 1 to 249 persons employed, further divided into;
- micro enterprises: with less than 10 persons employed;
- small enterprises: with 10 to 49 persons employed;
- medium-sized enterprises: with 50 to 249 persons employed;
- large enterprises: with 250 or more persons employed.
Context
This article presents an overview of statistics for the legal and accounting services sector in the EU, as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 69.
Legal activities include legal representation of one party’s interest against another party, such as advice and representation in civil cases, criminal actions, and labour disputes. It also includes preparation of legal documents, such as articles of incorporation, partnership agreements or similar documents in connection with company formation, patents and copyrights, preparation of deeds, wills, trusts and so on, as well as other activities of notaries, bailiffs, arbitrators, examiners and referees.
Accounting, bookkeeping, auditing and tax consultancy activities include the recording of commercial transactions, the preparation or auditing of financial accounts, the examination of accounts and certification of their accuracy, the preparation of personal and business income tax returns, as well as advisory activities and representation (other than legal representation) on behalf of clients before tax authorities.
This NACE division is composed of two classes organised into two groups:
- legal activities (Group 69.1);
- accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities; tax consultancy (Group 69.2).
See also
- Other analyses of the business economy by NACE Rev. 2 sector
- Professional, scientific and technical activities
- Structural business statistics introduced
Further Eurostat information
Publications
- European business - facts and figures (online publication)
Main tables
Database
- SBS – services (sbs_serv)
- Annual detailed enterprise statistics - services (sbs_na_serv)
- Annual detailed enterprise statistics for services (NACE Rev.2 H-N and S95) (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
- Preliminary results on services, main indicators (NACE Rev.2) (sbs_sc_r2preli)
- SMEs - Annual enterprise statistics broken down by size classes - services (sbs_sc_sc)
- Services broken down by employment size classes (NACE Rev.2 H-N and S95) (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
- Annual detailed enterprise statistics - services (sbs_na_serv)
- SBS - regional data - all activities (sbs_r)
- SBS data by NUTS 2 regions and NACE Rev.2, from 2008 onwards (sbs_r_nuts06_r2)
Dedicated section
Source data for tables and figures (MS Excel)
Other information
- Decision 1578/2007/EC of 11 December 2007 on the Community Statistical Programme 2008 to 2012
- Regulation 295/2008 of 11 March 2008 concerning structural business statistics