Accounting statistics for non-financial limited companies

Operating income and operating expenses are ordinary income and expenses outside financial ones. Operating income is divided into sales revenues (taxable and tax-free), rental income, commission revenues, profits from the sale of fixed assets and other operating-related revenues. Operating expenses include changes in stocks, costs of raw materials and consumables used, wages and salaries, depreciation and write-downs of tangible fixed assets and intangible fixed assets as well as a number of different types of other operating expenses. Examples of operating expenses that are specified are subcontracting, repair and maintenance and expenses relating to means of transport.

Cost of raw materials and consumables used includes stock changes of work in progress and finished goods.

Wages and salaries include wages, holiday pay, employers' national insurance premium, pension costs and other personnel expenses.

Financial income and financial expenses are ordinary revenues and expenses relating to investments, securities, receivables and liabilities. The financial items also include share of earnings relating to foreign exchange gains and losses (agio) and value changes of market-based current asset investments.

Extraordinary revenues and expenses apply to material items that are unusual for the business and do not occur regularly.

Taxes represent taxes relating to the accounting result, and consist of taxes payable, expected reimbursement claims from owners and changes in deferred taxes. Taxes payable are the taxes expected to be assessed on the year's taxable income corrected for any discrepancy between calculated and assessed taxes the year before.

Allocation of the profit/loss for the year shows how a profit is allocated and losses are covered. It provides information on transfers to/from equity and dividends to owners.

Fixed assets cover assets that are mainly included in the enterprise's long-term creation of value and are intended for permanent ownership or use, as well as receivables and securities scheduled for repayment later than one year after the time of settlement. This includes tangible fixed assets broken down into buildings and facilities, facilities under construction, transport equipment, machinery etc. Long-term receivables and investments are included as fixed assets, such as investments in other activities and loans to enterprises in the same group.

Current assets are assets relating to the enterprise's sales of goods and services, or which are expected to have a functional period of less than one year in operation. This includes cash and short-term capital investments (cash, bank deposits, shares, bonds etc.), receivables and inventories. Receivables are current assets if it has been agreed or scheduled that they shall be repaid within one year after the end of the financial year.

Equity is the portion of the total capital belonging to the owners, and is shown as the value of assets less liabilities. Equity is classified in two main divisions, invested equity and retained earnings. Invested equity consists of share capital and share premium accounts. Retained earnings consist of fund for assessment differences and other reserves/uncovered losses.

Liabilities cover all obligations that can come to place restrictions on the future use of the enterprise's resources, and are divided into provisions for liabilities and charges (pension commitments, deferred tax liabilities, etc., other long-term liabilities and short-term liabilities. Long-term liabilities are legal or financial obligations not meant to be redeemed during the coming accounting period, and are not related to the enterprise's short-term sales of goods and services. Short-term liabilities are liabilities that fall due for payment within one year from the time of settlement, or are directly related to the enterprise's short-term sales of goods and services.

Industrial classification is in accordance with the revised Norwegian Standard Industrial Classification . Limited companies operating in several fields are mainly grouped by the activity that contributes the most to the company's overall added value.

Name: Accounting statistics for non-financial limited companies
Topic: Establishments, enterprises and accounts

Division for Accounting Statistics and Business Register

National level

Annually

None

Statistical files with data from the trading statements that have been put through link and estimation programs are stored.

The purpose of the statistics is to obtain detailed statistical material for analyses and overviews of economic enterprise.

The statistics were produced for the first time for the 1999 financial year, and the purpose is to provide more detailed information than Accounts Statistics. Annual report statistics for non-financial limited companies.

The major user of the statistics is the National Account Division, in Statistics Norway. In addition, the statistics are used by the Ministry of Finance.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 08 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given inthe Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.

The statistics cover virtually the same population and reveal the same results as Accounts Statistics. Annual reports for non-financial limited companies . The population furthermore corresponds to a large degree to Income statistics for limited companies .

Statistics Act Sections 2-2 and 3-2.

None

The population are economically active non-financial limited companies. Limited companies, which operate financial activities such as commercial banks, mortgage companies, finance companies, insurance companies and the like are not included in the population.

The statistical unit is the enterprise (limited company).

The statistics are based on the Tax questionnaire on accounting. The questionnaire documents revenues and expenses vis-à-vis tax authorities, and is an attachment to the tax return in conjunction with the tax assessment of limited companies. Joint-stock companies and other enterprises that prepare annual accounts pursuant to the Accounting Act (tax liable enterprises) should use Tax questionnaire on accounting 2. The questionnaire contains company accounts, not consolidated accounts.

To the data on each enterprise is added industry and institutional sector information from the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises.

A representative sample of limited companies in various industries has been drawn. Limited companies meeting one or more specified criteria have been included in the sample. The criteria is linked inter alia to whether the limited company is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange, or whether it is a public limited company and whether they meet the size criteria determined by employment, operating revenues and/or total assets (balance-sheet amount). A sample among other limited companies was selected.

The statistics are based on tax questionnaires on accounting obtained for other statistics and have no independent data collection. Furthermore, tax questionnaires reported electronically to the Directorate of Taxes is collected.

The Register of Companies in Brønnøysund and Statistics Norway check the annual reports manually and mechanically to ensure that the information is correctly recorded. More checks are carried out to make sure that there is consistency between some accounts in profit and loss account and the balance sheet.

The controls of the material are done mechanically and manually. Controls have been worked out which apply to consistency both within the individual statement, and in relation to available information, among others, the annual accounts submitted to the Register of Annual Company Accounts in Brønnøysund.

Not relevant

As a rule, a figure is not published if it is based on fewer than three units. Also, if one company has a share of 90 per cent or more of the value, or if two companies contribute 95 per cent or more to the value, the figure is not published.

The statistics were first prepared in their present form for the 1999 financial year.

From 2000 and onwards, the statistics do not cover turnover at the Nordic exchange of electric power. From 2000 the amounts of sale and purchase of electricity is net reported.

In those cases where tax questionnaires on accounting are obtained from the tax authorities, the tax assessment can also cause changes in the questionnaire that cannot be traced back to the items where the change really took place. It should be pointed out that the information on the tax questionnaire in the first instance is to be regarded as the enterprise's assertions vis-à-vis the tax authorities, i.e. in those cases where the tax questionnaire has been obtained directly from the enterprise, it has not been subjected to any tax assessment-related processing. When the tax questionnaires on accounting are obtained from the tax authorities, the vast majority of the questionnaires will not contain changes resulting from of tax assessment processing. It is only in some cases that the tax assessment has caused changes that can be traced back to the tax accounting questionnaire.

Our routine controls disclose errors, when there are logical flaws in the forms, and deviations from the information in the Register of Annual Company Accounts in Brønnøysund. In some areas there are differences between the Accounting Act and the Tax Act, as well as between accounting and tax assessment practice. As a result, data in the accounts filed according the specifications of the Accounting Act and the tax questionnaire on accounting can be different. The controls are therefore in the first instance used as an aid to uncover units in the statistics that contain errors and inconsistencies. In many cases, the findings of the controls will turn out not to be errors in the statement of accounts, but a result of different adjustments the limited company has an opportunity to use.

Non-response in the sample is because the limited company is no longer in operation due to closure, merger or that the company has not prepared or delivered tax questionnaire on accounting for other reasons. The non-response rate is between 5 and 7 per cent. In those cases where one and the same company is included in both the statistics by direct obtainment of the tax questionnaire on accounting from the enterprise, and in the income survey for limited companies that obtains data from tax assessment authorities, the failure to supply information for one survey may be replaced by submissions to the other. When the tax accounting questionnaires are obtained from both the enterprise and tax authorities, it is mainly the questionnaire from the enterprise that is used.

All sample surveys are encumbered by uncertainty. In general, the fewer the observations the more uncertain the results. Groups based on relatively few observations will be very strongly influenced by extreme observations, i.e. observations that deviate greatly from the average. Extreme observations are therefore given a weight equal to 1, so that they only represent themselves in the material.

When drawing the sample, emphasis is placed on including the large joint-stock companies in the various industries in order to prepare reliable macro numbers. This is mirrored in the calculations of weights for the limited companies in the survey. The sample is nonetheless unevenly drawn, in that large joint-stock companies are overrepresented, and that the limited company must be included in the manufacturing statistics, structural statistics, income statistics for limited companies or reported electronically to the Directorate of Taxes in order to be included in the accounts statistics sample.

The quality of the register, which is the basis for drawing the sample and the data from administrative registers have an impact on the quality of the finished result. The sample selection is based on simple register information valid the year before the survey year. Both the administrative and statistical registers are updated continually, and will thus be changed during the production process.

The fact that statistics for some industries can be strongly affected by a single company. For example, the accounting figures for arts, entertainment and recreation are strongly affected by the inclusion of Norsk Tipping Limited in this industry. Norsk Tipping accounts for a large proportion of the activity in the industry and has an accounting structure and profitability which are different from the rest of the industry. This also applies to statistics broken down by regional classifications such as counties.

Not relevant