26.4.2024 valid documentation

Basic data of the statistics

Data description


Statistics on service industry commodities describe the structure of turnover and the service selection in industries producing services.

The statistics contain data on the breakdown of turnover by product category in accordance with the CPA product classification (Classification of Products by Activity) and possible sales to households BtoC (i.e. private customers) and business customers BtoB.

Statistical population

The population of the statistics is formed by Statistics Finland’s Business Register. The frame is stratified by industry and size category according to employees and turnover.

The frame has also been stratified to the Standard Industrial Classification 3, 4 or 5-digit level depending on the industry so that a representative group of enterprises can be obtained from all industries to the frame.

Random sampling is utilised in those strata from which it is not necessary to select all enterprises into the inquiry group. All enterprises employing at least 100 persons and with a turnover of over EUR five million are selected to the inquiry group. In addition, enterprises with a turnover of over EUR 50 million are included in the inquiry group. The lower limit used is enterprises with 20, 10 or 5 employees depending on the industry, in some special case enterprises with fewer than five employees are also included in the inquiry group. The objective in defining the industry-specific employee limit is that the frame covers 80 per cent of the industry's turnover and produces a representative picture of the structure of the industry.

Statistical unit

Data from the statistics on service industry commodities are published on the basis of legal units. The data are sent to Eurostat based on enterprise units. According to Statistics Finland's definition, an enterprise is an independent unit in its decision-making that produces goods and/or services for sale on the market. An enterprise may be formed of one or several legal units. If an enterprise has been formed of several legal units, transactions between the units have been eliminated.

Legal units include:
•    persons carrying on a business, trade or profession in their own name or in the name of a registered firm,
•    legal persons (e.g. limited company, limited partnership, general partnership, cooperative, savings bank and economic association),
•    market-based enterprises.

The legal unit is an administrative reporting unit and a reporting unit for its own data collections.
 

Unit of measure

The units of measure used in the database tables of the statistics are EUR 1,000 and per cent.


 

Base period

The statistics on service industry commodities are not index-based statistics.

The data are specific for each year.




 

Reference period

The reference period of the statistics on service industry commodities is the calendar year. The data relate to the accounting period that ended in the statistical reference year, so the accounting period does not always follow the calendar year.

Extended and shortened accounting periods are converted to correspond to 12 months.

 

Reference area

The statistics on service industry commodities are published on the level of the whole country.

The data also cover activities that have been carried out outside the borders of Finland but that are included in the enterprise's financial statement made in Finland. Thus, the turnover of the statistics may also include such as goods sent abroad for processing and sales of goods and services from abroad to abroad.




 

Sector coverage

The data are inquired from enterprises in the following industries (industry codes in parentheses).

Industries defined in the Regulation:
Information technology services (582, 62, 631)
Legal activities (691)
Accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities; tax consultancy (692)
Management consultancy activities (702)
Architectural and engineering activities and related technical consultancy (711)
Technical testing and analysis (712)
Advertising (731)
Market research and public opinion polling (732)
Employment activities (78)

Starting from the statistical reference year 2020, data will also be collected due to national data needs concerning the following industries:

Freight transport by road and removal services (494)
Water transport (50)
Air transport (51)
Warehousing and support activities for transportation (52)
Postal and courier activities (53)
Publishing of books, periodicals and other publishing activities (581)
Motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (59)
Programming and broadcasting activities (60)
Other professional, scientific and technical activities (74)

From the statistical reference year 2021 onwards, data are also collected concerning the following industries:

Rental and leasing activities (77)
Travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service and related activities (79)
Security and investigation activities (80)
Services to buildings and landscape activities (81)
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities (82)
Human health activities (86)
Washing and cleaning services (9601)

Depending on the industry, the data are inquired either yearly or every two years.

Time coverage

Annual data on the statistics on service industry commodities are available on the home page of the statistics and in Statistics Finland's StatFin database starting from 2008. The statistical population was changed to cover all enterprises in connection with the statistical reference year 2020 and the population is no longer limited to enterprises with 5 or 20 employees depending on the industry.

The data are not revised.

Frequency of dissemination

Data on the statistics on service industry commodities are published once a year on Statistics Finland's website. The collected data relate to the accounting period that ended in the statistical reference year. The released data are final annual data and preliminary data are not published. In regular production the data collection takes place in the autumn following the statistical reference year and the time of publication is in December.

Concepts

Commodity

Commodities refer to tangible or intangible instruments that directly (consumables) or indirectly (capital goods) satisfy people's needs.

Tangible assets comprise both goods, as well as materials and supplies. Services are intangible assets. (Other intangible assets can be, for example, data in digital format or the production right of some tangible asset).

Commodity production (industrial output) also includes so-called industrial services. Industrial services include remodelling, processing, working and other such finishing, maintenance, repairs and installations. Industrial services have their own PRODCOM service titles in the commodity statistics' PRODCOM product name register.

Some industrial services are, however, classified as non-industrial services in the Standard Industrial Classification (TOL), for example, maintenance and repair of vehicles and repair and maintenance of office equipment and computers, so they do not belong to the inquiry on manufacturing commodities. This also applies to design and programming of software, as well as consulting and other computer and related activities.

Turnover

Turnover is recorded in the Business Register according to profit and loss statement, except in the cane of practitioners of a trade for whom it is formed from proceeds from the trade. Data on turnover are not recorded for enterprises in certain industries. The most important of these is financial intermediation and insurance and pension funding activity.

Turnover is deemed to comprise sales profits from the actual activity of a party with a legal obligation to keep books, after deduction of granted discounts, value added tax and other taxes based direct on sales volume. In addition to the sales adjustment items, income transfer and passage through items are deducted from sales. These are items belonging to another party with a legal obligation to keep books, which only technically go through the books of this other party obliged to keep books. Paid sales freight, commissions and credit losses are not deducted from turnover.

If the length of the accounting period deviates from 12 months, turnover is converted in the Business Register statistics to equal 12 months. As of the statistical year 2001, the turnover for a statistical year in the Register of Enterprises and Establishment concerns the accounting period that ends during the statistical year under review. Prior to this, turnover concerned the accounting period that ended between 1 April of statistical year and 31 March of statistical year +1.

Accuracy, reliability and timeliness

Overall accuracy

The main source of error is non-response.

The statistics on service industry commodities do not describe service production comprehensively due to the above-mentioned employee limitations of the respondent group. The product distributions of enterprises in the stratum with the smallest number of employees but fewer than five persons and not belonging to the inquiry group may differ from the product distributions of enterprises belonging to the respondent group of the stratum, and this may cause inaccuracy in the estimated product distribution of the industry if the turnover of these enterprises accounts for a large share of the industry's turnover.

A significant factor affecting the reliability of the statistics is the ability of the respondents to break down turnover according to the CPA classification. Efforts have been made to manage this risk by specifying the classification and the descriptions of the categories.

Timeliness

The statistics are published once a year. The collected data relate to the accounting period that ended in the statistical reference year. The released data are final annual data and preliminary data are not published. In regular production the data collection takes place in the autumn following the statistical reference year and the time of publication is in December.
 

Time lag - final results (producer) / TP2

The final data of the statistics on service industry commodities are released annually within 12 months from the end of the statistical reference year. The release has taken place in December.
 

Punctuality

There is no delay in publishing the data of the statistics on service industry commodities. The data have been published on the days indicated in the release calendar.
 

Completeness

Data from the statistics on service industry commodities are available on the following industries:
Information technology services (582, 62, 631) Legal activities (691) Accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities; tax consultancy (692) Management consultancy activities (702) Architectural and engineering activities and related technical consultancy (711) Technical testing and analysis (712) Advertising (731) Market research and public opinion polling (732) Employment activities (78)

Starting from the statistical reference year 2020, data are also available on the industries:

Freight transport by road and removal services (494) Water transport (50) Air transport (51) Warehousing and support activities for transportation (52) Publishing of books, periodicals and other publishing activities (581) Motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (59) Programming and broadcasting activities (60) Other professional, scientific and technical activities (74)

Starting from the statistical reference year 2021, data are also available on the industries:

Rental and leasing activities (77) Travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service and related activities (79) Security and investigation activities (80) Services to buildings and landscape activities (81) Office administrative, office support and other business support activities (82) and Human health activities (86).

Depending on the industry, data are available either yearly or every two years.

Sampling error

In addition to stratification by industry, the frame has been stratified by the number of personnel into four size categories: 5 to 19, 20 to 49, 50 to 99 and at least 100 persons. All strata based on the industry are divided into these size categories. The number of strata is affected by that not all size categories were represented in all strata by industry.

Enterprises employing at least 100 persons and with a turnover of over EUR five million have been drawn into the inquiry group as certain. Due to the small size of the population all units are drawn into the inquiry group from several industry strata. Random sampling is utilised in those strata for which it is not justified to select all enterprises into the inquiry group.

The enterprises are drawn by random sampling so that the sampling plan defines the number of enterprises to be drawn from the stratum. The probability proportional to size (PPS) method is used in the sampling. With this method the probability of selecting a unit grows as the unit's turnover grows. The aim is to get into the sample the enterprises covering as large a share as possible of the turnover of the industry.

Coverage error

The data on the respondent enterprises are raised by stratum and industry to correspond to the data of the basic population, that is, the annual data of Statistics Finland's structural business and financial statement statistics. Non-response and over-coverage and under-coverage are taken into account when forming estimates. Over-coverage includes enterprises classified in the wrong industry in the Business Register and enterprises whose closure has not been updated in the Business Register by the time the sample was drawn. In some individual cases the data of some enterprise not having responded may also be imputed.

If errors are detected in the statistics, the data are adjusted by correcting errors and by compiling a release on the errors on the web pages of the statistics.

Comparability

Comparability - geographical

The data cover the whole of Finland.

The data of the statistics on service industry commodities are based on the international industrial classification and the CPA2015 product classification.


The data sent to Eurostat are internationally comparable.
 

Comparability - over time

A comparable time series on the statistics on service industry commodities is available for the time period 2008 to 2019. The statistical population was changed to cover all enterprises in connection with the statistical reference year 2020 and the population is no longer limited to enterprises with 5 or 20 employees depending on the industry. Turnover data are not collected with the CPA classification in other sources.

Coherence - cross domain

Turnover data are not collected with the CPA classification in other sources. The frame for the data collection was drawn from Statistics Finland's Register of Enterprises and Establishments.
 
 

Coherence - sub-annual and annual statistics

The statistics on service industry commodities are released once a year. The released data are final annual data and preliminary data are not published.
 

Coherence -national accounts

The data of the statistics on service industry commodities are used as source data for the national accounts and the producer price index for services.
 

Coherence - internal

The data of the statistics on service industry commodities are internally uniform.
 

Source data and data collections

Source data

Data by service commodity are not available from other sources, so the data must be asked directly from enterprises. The frame for the data collection was drawn from Statistics Finland's Register of Enterprises and Establishments. The data are based on data on legal units.

The inquiry on statistics on service industry commodities collects information on the production of services. Enterprises are asked about their turnover by service product category according to the CPA product classification. In addition, they are requested to specify possible sales to households (private customers) by product category.

The data collection annually targets about 1,900 enterprises.

Data collection

Data for Statistics Finland's own data collections are gathered with a web questionnaire. In addition, Statistics Finland has an agreement that the Tax Administration delivers the data of the business taxation data to Statistics Finland on the agreed dates.

The web questionnaire of the inquiry for statistics on service industry commodities has been tested in connection with its introduction and when changes have been made to it. Based on customer feedback, the instructions for the questionnaire have been specified.


The non-response of the inquiry is monitored yearly.

 

Frequency of data collection

The data collection for the statistics on service industry commodities is carried out once a year.
 

Cost and burden

The response burden was measured with an inquiry in 2021. Efforts have been made to minimise the response burden.
 

Methods

Data compilation


The content checks are used to examine possible response errors that cannot be detected with the data collection application checks. The data are raised to represent the population.
 

Data validation

Content checks made to the data:

It is checked that the enterprise belongs to the correct industry by comparing the CPA category with the biggest turnover share to the enterprise's industry data on the TOL and CPA 3-digit and 4-digit levels. If the biggest CPA category answered by the enterprise does not correspond to the industry, these enterprises are revised in cooperation with the Register of Enterprises and Establishments.

Large enterprises whose turnover is recorded in full in one CPA category are examined. For these enterprises, it should be examined by means of the enterprise's web pages and direct contacts whether the enterprise actually concentrates on producing only one type of service or whether the turnover could be specified in more detail. In recent years, the focus has been on companies with a turnover of over EUR 10 million.

The relative distribution of CPA categories by industry is compared with the distributions of previous years. Possible significant deviations in relative shares are examined in more detail.




 

Imputation rate / A7

Calculation method

The effect of non-response is corrected by calculating the non-response correction coefficient for each stratum based on the numbers of the responding enterprises.

When the data are raised to the whole population, enterprises' turnover data are picked again from the same database of Statistics Finland that is used in the compilation of other business statistics. The enterprise-specific sample weight is multiplied by the stratum-specific non-response correction weight calculated in the first stage, which produces a preliminary weighting coefficient for the enterprise. The turnover data raised with this weighting coefficient are summed by stratum and the sums are compared with the stratum sums selected from the database. Based on these differences, the weighting coefficients are still corrected so that the sums match and correspond with the data of the population, that is, the annual data of Statistics Finland's structural business and financial statement statistics. After this, the enterprises' turnover data are divided to the CPA product categories they have given and are summed by industry, after which the product distribution of the industry can be formed.
 

Documentation on methodology

A methodological description of the statistics on service industry commodities can be found on the home page of the statistics (archived, in Finnish only).

Principles and outlines

Contact organisation

Statistics Finland

Contact organisation unit

Economic Statistics

Legal acts and other agreements

The compilation of statistics is guided by the Statistics Act. The Statistics Act contains provisions on collection of data, processing of data and the obligation to provide data. Besides the Statistics Act, the Data Protection Act and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities are applied to processing of data when producing statistics.

Statistics Finland compiles statistics in line with the EU’s regulations applicable to statistics, which steer the statistical agencies of all EU Member States.  

Further information: Statistical legislation

The data are published so that no individual enterprise's data or development can be deduced from them.

The statistics on service industry commodities are based on Regulation (EC) No 295/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning structural business statistics, which defines the industries and data content covered by the statistics. The first reference year of the statistics is 2008.

The Regulation on statistical units, Regulation No 696/93 of the Council on statistical units, is applied to the statistics on business activities.

The Standard Industrial Classification 2008 is based on the European Union's common industrial classification, NACE Rev. 2, supplemented for national needs on the fifth level.

Regulation on business registers 177/2008
 

Confidentiality - policy

The data protection of data collected for statistical purposes is guaranteed in accordance with the requirements of the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and the Data Protection Act (1050/2018). The data materials are protected at all stages of processing with the necessary physical and technical solutions. Statistics Finland has compiled detailed directions and instructions for confidential processing of the data. Employees have access only to the data essential for their duties. The premises where unit-level data are processed are not accessible to outsiders. Members of the personnel have signed a pledge of secrecy upon entering the service. Violation of data protection is punishable.

Further information: Data protection | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)
 

Confidentiality - data treatment

Data on the statistics on service industry commodities are published on aggregate levels. The data of the statistics are published on Statistics Finland's website so that data on individual enterprises cannot be identified. In the statistics, the threshold value rule is used when assessing the disclosure risk of data for all industries/CPA categories. The protected data are suppressed. In primary suppression, data on an individual industry group are protected by suppression if the group has data on one or two enterprises. In secondary encryption, the data are suppressed so that the primarily protected data cannot be derived.

Enterprise-level data can be released encrypted for researchers' use in Statistics Finland's research services. Contact information for research services: http://www.stat.fi/tup/mikroaineistot/index_en.html

The information service follows the same protection rules.

The data sent to Eurostat that are subject to both primary and secondary encryption are indicated with codes.
 

Release policy

Statistics Finland publishes new statistical data at 8 am on weekdays in its web service. The release times of statistics are given in advance in the release calendar available in the web service. The data are public after they have been updated in the web service.

Further information: Publication principles for statistics at Statistics Finland
 

Data sharing

Data on the statistics on service industry commodities are published annually on the statistics' website and in the StatFin database.

The data are also submitted to the national accounts, the producer price index for services, the information service subject to charge and the research services.

In addition, industry-specific data on service items are supplied to Eurostat, which publishes the data on its web pages.
 

Other

The industry-specific data of the statistics are delivered to Eurostat, which publishes data by industry on its own pages.

Industry-specific data are also available free of charge or as a charged information service with regard to the rules on disclosure control. Learn more about the service:https://www.stat.fi/tup/yritysrekisteri/index_en.html
 

Accessibility and clarity

Statistical data are published as database tables in the StatFin database. The database is the primary publishing site of data, and new data are updated first there. When releasing statistical data, existing database tables can be updated with new data or completely new database tables can be published.   

In addition to statistical data published in the StatFin database, a release on the key data is usually published in the web service. If the release contains data concerning several reference periods (e.g. monthly and annual data), a review bringing together these data is published in the web service. Database tables updated at the time of publication are listed both in the release and in the review. In some cases, statistical data can also be published as mere database releases in the StatFin database. No release or review is published in connection with these database releases.

Releases and database tables are published in three languages, in Finnish, Swedish and English. The language versions of releases may have more limited content than in Finnish.   

Information about changes in the publication schedules of releases and database tables and about corrections are given as change releases in the web service.

Micro-data access

Unit-level data from the statistics on service industry commodities are used for producing statistics and for national accounts calculations and for information service subject to charge.

The data can also be obtained in encrypted form for research use. The use takes place in Statistics Finland's research services. Further information:
http://www.stat.fi/tup/mikroaineistot/index_en.html
 

Data revision - policy

Revisions – i.e. improvements in the accuracy of statistical data already published – are a normal feature of statistical production and result in improved quality of statistics. The principle is that statistical data are based on the best available data and information concerning the statistical phenomenon. On the other hand, the revisions are communicated as transparently as possible in advance. Advance communication ensures that the users can prepare for the data revisions.

The reason why data in statistical releases become revised is often caused by the data becoming supplemented. Then the new, revised statistical figure is based on a wider information basis and describes the phenomenon more accurately than before.

Revisions of statistical data may also be caused by the calculation method used, such as annual benchmarking or updating of weight structures. Changes of base years and used classifications may also cause revisions to data.

Statistics on service industry commodities are not statistics that become revised.

User needs

Examples of data users outside Statistics Finland are trade associations. In addition, the data are used in compiling the national accounts and the producer price index for services. The data of the statistics are also used at Eurostat.
 

User satisfaction


Eurostat assesses the data of the statistics yearly. The last grade received by Finland was very good.









 

Quality documentation

A quality report must be submitted to Eurostat within 27 months of the end of the statistical reference year. Eurostat delivers a pre-filled quality report usually in the early part of the year.


 

Quality assessment

The quality of the statistics on service industry commodities is examined as the data accumulate. The correctness of the data is checked on the data collection unit level. The units to be checked are automatically selected from among all data collection units. The data are also checked by comparing them with other relevant data sources.

At aggregate levels, the data are compared with the previous year and the biggest differences are explained.
In addition, coherence analyses are made against structural business and financial statement statistics and short-term business statistics.

Quality assurance

Quality management requires comprehensive guidance of activities. The quality management framework of the field of statistics is the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP). The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice.

Further information: Quality management

User access

Data are released to all users at the same time. Statistical data may only be handled at Statistics Finland and information on them may be given before release only by persons involved in the production of the statistics concerned or who need the data of the statistics concerned in their own work before the data are published.

Further information: Publication principles for statistics

Unless otherwise separately stated in connection with the product, data or service concerned, Statistics Finland is the producer of the data and the owner of the copyright. The terms of use for statistical data.

The data are supplied to Eurostat 18 months from the end of the statistical reference year.
 

Statistical experts

Riitta Savolainen
Senior Statistician
029 551 3259

The documentation released before 5.4.2022 can be found on the archive pages of the statistics.

Go to the archive page