Annual indicators of business entities

Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia

Structural business statistics unit

Biljana Brajovic

Head of Structural business statistics unit

5 Milana Rakića, Belgrade

biljana.brajovic@stat.gov.rs

(+381) 11 2412 922/ 338 ext

Not available.

The survey aims at calculating indicators necessary for the analysis of the structural enterprises’ activity, structure of input and output in the production process, business profit and losses, and enterprises’ competitiveness at certain level of activity, business operations of small and medium enterprises,  as well as for the development of business operations on regional, national and international levels in business economy.

Structural Business Statistics indicators are devided into demographic (number of enterprises, number of local units etc.), those related to inputs (number of persons employed, hours worked, total purchases of goods and services, personnel costs, gross investments in tangible goods etc.) as well as those related to output (turnover, output value, gross value added, gross operating surplus etc.). Indicators are calculated in annual and multi annual periodicity, for enterprises and local units. Results are published by activities of CA (2010), for the levels of the regions of the Republic of Serbia, as well as by size of enterprise.

The National classification of Activities - CA (2010) that is available on the website of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia:  

http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2319/zakon-o-klasifikaciji-delatnosti.doc

This classification completely corresponds to the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE Rev.2).

Nomenclature of Statistical Territorial Units (NSTU).

The survey includes business economy i.e. all economically active enterprises and other legal entities, as well as a part of entrepreneurs who provide annual financial reports, that, pursuant to the Classification of Activities, are classified into the following sections:

А             Agriculture, forestry and fishing

В             Mining and quarrying

C             Manufacturing

D             Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply

Е              Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities

F              Construction

G             Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles

H             Transportation and storage

I               Accommodation and food service activities

J              Information and communication

L              Real estate activities

М            Professional, scientific and technical activities

N             Administrative and support service activities

P             Education

Q            Human health and social work activities

R             Arts, entertainment and recreation

S             Оther service activities

The survey does not include business entities from sections K (Financial and insurance activities) and О (Public administration and defence; compulsory social security). Even though, according to international standards, SBS survey does not cover business entities from the sections А (Agriculture, forestry and fishing), in this survey they are included, mainly for national accounts purposes.

Items required in thе questionnaire SBS-01 have to be available in accounting, human resources and other records of enterprises. These are:

• income – revenues from sales, income from sub-contracting, donations, breakdown of income by products;
• costs – breakdown of costs for industrial and non-industrial services and costs of materials; 
• employment – annual average number of persons employed, number of agency workers;
• current and capital transfers – inward and outward, by recipient;
• regional data – breakdown of the total turnover, persons employed, gross salaries and wages, depreciations and fixed assets of the enterprise by classes of the Classification of Activities (2010) and municipalities.

From the reference year 2017 for certain number of enterprises have been asked detailed data on the structure of income and costs, by products or group of products. The following data are collected:

• Revenues from sales of products, stocks of finished products and work in progress;
• Revenues from sales of merchandise, trade margin rate in % or price difference, stocks of merchandise;
• Revenues from sales of products, stocks of finished products and work in progress, in construction activities;
• Reveneus from sales of industrial and non-industrial services (specially for ICT and other business services);
• Costs and stocks of materials;
• Costs of industrial and non-industrial services.

Based on the results of the SBS-01 survey and data from annual financial statement, indicators defined by the EBS Regulation are produced  The most important indicators are:

Number of enterprises includes the total number of business units which were active at least up to the reference period, according to the data from the Statistical Business Register.

Turnover comprises the invoiced values during the reference periods, which correspond to the values of market sale of goods and services to third parties. The turnover includes all invoiced taxes and duties (except VAT and similar deductible taxes), as well as charges passed on to the customer (transport, packaging, etc.). Excluded are reductions in prices, rebates and discounts, the value of returned merchandise, as well as subsidies, financial, extraordinary and other income.

Output value refers to the amount of goods and services actually produced during the reference period. It is measured by the value of the realised turnover, including the capitalised production and other operating income (excluding subsidies), which is adjusted by the changes in stocks of finished goods, work in progress, minus the value of purchases of goods and services for resale.

Value added is the gross income from operating activities, after adjusting for subsidies and indirect taxes. The calculation of the value added includes the value of production and subsidies, minus taxes on products and production, as well as the value of intermediate consumption which covers the cost of materials, cost of industrial and non-industrial services and part of other personnel cost.

Gross operating surplus is the operating surplus accruing from an enterprise’s activity, after production input has been remunerated. It can be calculated as the difference between the value added at factor costs and personnel costs. The enterprise may pay out debts, pay taxes or finance investments from the gross operating surplus. Financial and extraordinary income is excluded.

Personnel costs refer to all remuneration, in cash or in kind, payable regularly and temporarily by the employer to employees in return for work done by the latter in the reference period. They also include taxes and employees’ social security contributions payable by the employer, as well as other remunerations payable to employees, such as severance payments, gratuities, bonuses, family allowances, transport, overtime, nigh work, etc.

Gross wages and salaries refer to total remunerations, in cash or in kind, payable regularly or temporarily by the employer to employees (counted on the payroll) in return for work done in the reference period. Gross wages and salaries include taxes and social contributions payable by the employees, as well as other remunerations payable to employees, as severance payment, gratuities, bonuses, family allowances, transport, overtime, night work, etc.

Number of persons employed refers to all persons in the enterprise, including working proprietors, partners and unpaid family workers, voluntary workers, as well as persons working outside the enterprise but counted on its payroll (sales representatives, maintenance workers, delivery, etc.).

Number of employees refers to persons who have a work contract with an employer for definite or indefinite time and are paid for their work. It includes temporary absenteeism (sick leave, paid leave, etc.), part-time workers, seasonal and temporary workers, home workers under an agreement with the employer, apprentices, as well as working proprietors and family workers on payroll of the enterprise. It excludes workers from temporary employment agencies, long absenteeism and voluntary workers.

Value added per person employed (labour productivity), according to the methodology applied in EU countries, this is the main indicator for the measure of labour productivity. This indicator shows the volume of the value added per person employed. It is calculated by dividing the value added in an activity by the number of persons employed in this activity.

Wage-adjusted labour productivity. In measuring productivity, where the number of persons employed is taken to be the input, the problem is that full-time and part-time workers, as well as temporary absent workers are treated as one employee. This is particularly obvious in activities with a high share of part-time workers. Consequently, such productivity is adjusted by personnel costs. The wage-adjusted productivity is expressed in percentages and calculated by dividing the value of productivity by the average personnel costs.

Average personnel costs are calculated by dividing personnel costs in an activity by the number of employees in that activity.

Profitability indicates the share of the gross operating surplus in the total turnover in an activity, i.e. to what degree each dinar of revenues from sale participates in the gross operating surplus. Higher share means better enterprise’s performance and better earning capacity.

Number of persons employed per enterprise, as the indicator of size, measures the average size of enterprises by activities.

Turnover per person employed indicates the enterprise’s sales capacity in a selected CA activity. It is calculated by dividing the total turnover in an activity by the number of persons employed in that activity.

Statistical and reporting unit is an economically active enterprise or market-oriented other legal unit, as well as entrepreneur who provides annual financial report (business entity,) that have submitted the annual financial statement for the previous year. 

The principal statistical unit is the business entity. Given that the enterprise may perform one or more activities, in one or more sites, the local unit is also considered statistical unit. 

The SBS-01 survey covers business economy, i.e. active enterprises engaged in the production and sale of goods and services, as well as the part of other legal entities that produce and render market-oriented services, which is established by a practical criterion saying that their income from selling goods and services should exceed 50% of their total operating income, provided that they have submitted the annual financial statement for the previous year. The target population consists of economically active statistical enterprises whose principal activity is one of the mentioned under item 3.3. of this document. From the referent year 2021 entrepreneurs who provide annual financial reports are included..

Results are calculated by activities of CA, for the Republic of Serbia and statistical territorial units Srbija– sever and Srbija – jug (NSTJ1) and regions (NSTJ2).

(Remark: Starting from 1999 the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia has not at disposal and may not provide available certain data relative to AP Kosovo and Metohia and therefore these data are not included in the coverage for the Republic of Serbia (total).

Data have been disseminated from the reference year 2007 anнualy. From the reference year 2021 a part of entrepreneurs who provide annual financial reports are included.

Not applicable.

Values (financial) items are expressed at current prices and in dinars, VAT excluded.

The results are presented in absolute numbers, as the percentage structure (share in totals) of the results and by the enterprise size defined by the number of persons employed or operating income. 

Reference period is a calendar year. For a minor number of variables reference period is multi annual (two, three or five years).

Conducting Annual Structural Business Survey is based on the following legal acts of the Republic of Serbia:

National legislation:

EU legislation (acquis communautaire):  

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

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

Data are regularely transmitted to Eurostat. There is no data exchange with other international institutions.

Data confidentiality is stipulated by:

- Official Statistics Law (Official Gazette of RS, number 104/2009), Articles 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, and 49.

(www.stat.gov.rs/media/2322/zakon_o_statisticie.pdf)

- Rulebook on statistical data protection in the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia

(www.stat.gov.rs/media/2343/rulebook-on-statistical-data-protection-in-sors.doc )

- Guidelines on measures of data and information protection in the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia

(www.stat.gov.rs/media/2341/guidelines-on-measures-of-data-and-information-protection-in-the-sors.doc )

Confidential data are treated according to Official Statistics Law and Rulebook on Statistical Data Protection in the SORS of the RS, article 3. "Confidential statistical data, in terms of this Rulebook, are individual data as well as aggregates based on which the data holder may be in whatever way recognized", article 11."Confidential data from Article 3 of this Rulebook are considered official secret and cannot be published or communicated, that is, they cannot be part of aggregated data from which individual data can be identified".

   Data are published on the level at which they are not confidential. 

Calendar of releases is available at SORS website:

http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/calendar

Data are disseminated annualy.

Not available.

Data are published in Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Serbia.

Data from theme Structural Business Statistics, subtheme Annual Structural Business Statistics, are available on SORS statistical database:

http://data.stat.gov.rs/Home/Result/190402?languageCode=en-US

Data have been transmitted to Eurostat from the reference year 2016 in the required tecnical format.

Methodological explanations are available in Statistical Yearbook, on SORS web site

 http://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2018/Pdf/G20182051.pdf

Not available.

Results from the Annual Structural Business Survey are produced in line with methodological requirements and standards, combining data from statistical survey SBS-01 and administrative data sources (annual financial reports).

Data are compared withdata from the previous period as well as with data from the other statistical domains.The level of reliability and accuracy is high. Before data publishing detailed quality control of data is done.

Release of data is in line with Calendar of releases and data are available to all the users.

Combining multiple sources and data collection methods is in line with international recommendations, standards and practise. Data are internationally consistent because they follow EU practise as well as relevant international concepts, definitions and classifications.

Beside data released in regular publications in SORS, special data processing is done at the request of the user.

Users on statistical data on structural business statistics are found in all areas of economic and social life. These are natural persons, business entities, state administration bodies and units of local self-government, academic and scientific-research institutions, Eurostat and other domestic and international users.

On biennial basis (once in two years), by the means of web interview, implemented is the User Satisfaction Survey. The survey results are available at SORS website: http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/o-nama/sistem-upravljanja-kvalitetom.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

• annual data from SBS-01 are used to produce annual national accounts, as well as to create an input-output tables;
• also, there is a comparison with the results from the Annual Survey on Industrial Production;
• data from the SBS-01 annual survey are used to obtain weighting coefficients for calculating the index of industrial production, on the  levels  industry - total, the sections of CA and the Main Industrial Groups according to the economic purpose;
• data are also used for updating data in the Statistical Business Register.

Not available.

• SBS-01 statistical survey for large and medium-sized enterprises (with 50 or more persons employed), as well as for business entities with less than 50 employees which according to the financial statements for the previous year, are large or medium, or of greater importance for the certain activity;
• administrative data sources (annual financial statements) for other business entities defined by the coverage of units;
• Statistical Business Register.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.