Concepts: B

The concepts described on these pages are words and expressions used in statistics with a specific, limited meaning. In everyday speech the word may have a different meaning. The same concept may mean a different thing in different sets of statistics. For example, the concept “unemployed” has three different definitions.

In connection with each definition you can find information about which sets of statistics use the concept. If you are looking for statistical figures, go from the definition to the statistics page.

There are several definitions for this concept

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During 2012, Statistics Finland has adopted a new origin classification. A similar classification is already used in the other Nordic countries. The origin and background country are determined based on the country of birth data of the person's parents. Using the origin classification it is easy to distinguish between persons born abroad and born in Finland with a foreign background.

Data on persons that died before 1964 have not been entered into the Population Information System of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. There are nearly 900,000 persons among the Finnish population who have been born in Finland and both parent's country of birth is unknown because the parents of these persons have died before the Population Information System was established. People born in Finland before 1970, whose parents' background is not known, have been concluded to be persons with Finnish background if their native language is a national language (Finnish, Swedish, Sami). All such persons who have at least one parent who was born in Finland are also considered to be persons with Finnish background. The background country for all persons with Finnish background is Finland.

Persons whose both parents or the only known parent have been born abroad are considered to be persons with foreign background. Persons who have been born abroad and whose parents' data are not included in the Population Information System are also considered to be persons with foreign background. Persons born in Finland before 1970, whose native language is a foreign language have been considered to be persons with foreign background, as have persons born in Finland in 1970 or after this, whose parents' data are not included in the Population Information System.

If both parents of a person have been born abroad, the background country is primarily the country of birth of the biological mother. If a person only has knowledge of a father that was born abroad, the background country is the country of birth of the father. If either parent's country of birth is unknown, the background country for persons born abroad is their own country of birth. For persons born in Finland, whose parents' data are unknown and who have been deducted to be with foreign background, the background country is unknown.

For children adopted from abroad, the adoptive parents are regarded as the biological parents. Thus a child adopted from abroad by persons born in Finland is a person with Finnish background and their background country is Finland.

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The background to unemployment refers to the activity of an unemployed person prior to unemployment: a) whether he or she was at work or outside the labour force, b) whether the job was permanent or for a fixed-term, c) what was the activity of the unemployed who became unemployed from outside the labour force prior to unemployment, and d) whether is entering the working life permanently for the first time.

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The response distribution of each qualitative question is expressed in the balance figure in the statistics on consumer confidence. The balance figures are obtained by deducting the weighted proportion of negative answers from that of positive answers (for more details see Quality description; in Finnish only). The balance figure can range between -100 and +100. The higher the figure, the brighter is the view on the economy.

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The balance of payments (BOP) statistics describe the external stability of the economy in terms of both real and financial transactions and is part of the system of national accounts. The balance of payments is comprised of current, capital and financial accounts. The current account depicts the effects of foreign transactions, such as the trade in goods and services, primary income and secondary income, on the national income and on the balance between savings and investments in the economy. The capital account only contains capital transfers. The financial account describes how the surplus or the deficit in the current account is invested or financed to and from abroad, respectively. The financial account comprises changes in foreign direct investment, portfolio investment, other investment, financial derivatives and central bank reserve assets.
The instructions and recommendations of the International Monetary Fund Balance of Payments Manual (sixth edition of 2009) are applied in the compilation of the BOP statistics. Guidance is also provided by the European Central Bank (ECB) (financial account) and Eurostat (current account) in the EU and by the OECD (foreign direct investment).

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The ban on the keeping of animals can be imposed on an aggravated animal welfare offence (Criminal Code, Chapter 17, 14a), animal welfare offence (Criminal Code, Chapter 17, 14), and petty animal welfare offence (Criminal Code, Chapter 17, 15). A ban on animal keeping may also be imposed on an animal welfare violation (Animal Welfare Act 247/1996) or an animal transport violation (Animal Transport Act 1429/2006) or if the person is to be deemed unfit or unable to see to the welfare of animals. A ban on the keeping of animals is imposed at the request of the prosecutor. A ban on the keeping of animals may be imposed for a fixed period of at least one year or permanently. (Criminal Code, Chapter 7, Section 23).

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In statistics, the term bankrupt refers to enterprises, corporations or natural persons for whom a bankruptcy petition has been filed.

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This legal form is used if a bankrupt's estate requests and is given a Business ID. Otherwise the legal form of an enterprise does not change in connection with a bankruptcy.

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Bankruptcy is an insolvency proceeding covering all the liabilities of the debtor, where the assets of the debtor are used in payment of the claims in bankruptcy. At the beginning of the bankruptcy the debtor loses authority over the assets. The court appoints an estate administrator to administer the bankruptcy estate and the assets of the debtor. The assets are liquidated and used in payment of the debts.

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The court shall make the order of bankruptcy. The bankruptcy petition can be made by a creditor or the debtor. In statistics, the bankruptcies where the petitioner is a shareholder of a decedent's estate are often classified separately from other voluntary bankruptcies, i.e. bankruptcies where the petitioner is the debtor.

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In Statistics Finland's statistics on bankruptcies, bankruptcy proceedings closed with a final decree refer to bankruptcy proceedings which have been concluded in a district court with a final decree.

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Bankruptcy proceedings which have been initiated by a creditor.

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A barge type vessel regardless of size, excluding pusher lighter combinations, which are included in the regular merchant fleet.

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In the base index the price of the calculation period is always compared with the base period. In the base index weights are usually changed less often than yearly, for example, at intervals of five years.

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There are several definitions for this concept

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Basic heading means the lowest level of aggregation of items in the GDP breakdown for which purchasing power parities are calculated.

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Basic pay describes task-specific minimum pay, taking into consideration any related additional responsibilities, cost-of-living category of the location of workplace or possible deductions for lack of qualifications. Basic pay does not include personal bonuses, increments for years of service or similar pay components. Basic pay is determined by the tasks of a position holder or employee and the conditions of collective labour agreements. Basic pay is often determined by the degree of competence required of the position holder or employee.

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Basic price is a price concept in the national accounts. The basic price is the price receivable by the producers from the purchaser for a unit of a good or service produced as output, minus any tax payable on that unit as a consequence of its production or sale (i.e. taxes on products), plus any subsidy receivable on that unit as a consequence of its production or sale (i.e. subsidies on products). It excludes any transport charges invoiced separately by the producer. It includes any transport margins charged by the producer on the same invoice, even when they are included as a separate item on the invoice. (subsidies on products).

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The basic price index for domestic supply measures development in the prices of goods used in Finland as they enter the market. The index includes both domestic and imported goods. The price for domestic goods is the factory price exclusive of taxes. The price for imported goods is the c.i.f. price of the imports plus customs duties. The index covers commodities classified under industry categories A to F.

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Basic renovation refers to making a building or the condition of a building as good as when new. Partitioning of flats, insulation of walls, renewal of floor structures, and refitting of kitchens and bathrooms represent basic renovation.

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The basis for an investigation of the cause of death is the information on the death certificate. The basis in law for an investigation of the cause of death is the Act on the Investigation of the Cause of Death (1973/459)

Forensic autopsy:
Forensic autopsy is most often performed if death has occurred in such circumstances that police investigation is necessary in order to establish the cause of death. A forensic autopsy is performed at the request of police.

A police investigation will be conducted in following situations:
- If the deceased was not under a doctor's care during his/her latest illness, or
- If the death was caused by a crime, accident, suicide, poisoning, occupational disease or medical treatment or there is cause to suspect that the death was caused by such a reason, or
- If the death otherwise occurred unexpectedly.

Medical autopsy:
A medical autopsy can be performed:
- If the cause of death cannot be established from information on the deceased person during his/her lifetime and information related to the event of his/her death, and the deceased person was in the care of a doctor during his/her latest illness, and if an autopsy is necessary in the interest of public health and medical science,
- The next of kin or otherwise close person of the deceased requests it.

Thus, a medical autopsy is performed at the request of a physician or relatives of the deceased.

Other basis for investigating the cause of death:
The commonest other basis for an investigation of the cause of death is a clinical examination of the deceased and information on his/her latest illness or medical treatment.

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The number of bed-places in an establishment or dwelling is determined by the number of persons who can stay overnight in beds set up in the establishment, ignoring any extra beds that may be set up by customer request. The term bed-place applies to a single bed. A double bed is counted as two bed-places. This unit serves to measure the capacity of any type of accommodation (e.g. one caravan pitch counts as 4 bed-places).

In the Finnish accommodation statistics extra beds are often firm fixtures of accommodation facilities, especially when the accommodation unit is a cottage (chalet, bungalow). In these cases the capacity is usually given by the number of accommodated persons, e.g. 4+2 persons.

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The net occupancy rate of bed-places in one month is obtained by dividing the total overnight stays by the number of bed-places on offer and the number of days when the bed-places are actually available for use (net of seasonal or other temporary closures for decoration, etc.) for the same group of establishments.

The gross occupancy rate of bed-places in one month is obtained by dividing the total overnight stays by the number of bed-places and the number of days in the corresponding month (sometimes termed bed-nights) for the same group of establishments.

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A road vehicle which has two or more wheels and generally is propelled solely by the muscular energy of the persons on that vehicle, in particular by means of a pedal system, lever or handle (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, quadricycles and invalid carriages).
Included are cycles with supportive power unit.

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There are several definitions for this concept

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There are several definitions for this concept

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The birth order is determined in two ways: either all births to the mother are taken into account, or only the live births during the present marriage are included.

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'Liveborn' is the term for a newborn who breathes or shows other signs of life after birth.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) definition, 'stillborn' is the term for a newborn with a birth weight of at least 500 g or, if the birth weight is not available, a newborn born dead after a pregnancy lasting 22 weeks or more. The WHO definition has been in use since 1987. From the 2003 vital statistics onwards, the same national definition is used as in the cause-of-death statistics: 'stillborn' is the term for a newborn with a birth weight of at least 500 g, or a newborn born dead after a pregnancy lasting 22 weeks or more.

Before 1987 stillborn was the term for a newborn born dead after a pregnancy lasting 28 weeks or more.

Children are classified in birth statistics by the mother's marital status at the time of the child's birth. A child born during marriage is a legitimate child. A widow can give birth to a legitimate child if the pregnancy began while she was still married. A child born out of wedlock is illegitimate. Cases where the mother has married the child's father after the child's birth are also considered illegitimate in these statistics. According to the law, such children only become legitimate as of the date when their parents enter into a marriage contract with each other.

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Employees of an enterprise direct labour dispute measures to some third party. They refuse to handle the transportations of a specific enterprise, for example.

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Public corporations comprise state agencies subject to special law (e.g. the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Bank of Finland and the University of Helsinki) and other legal persons subject to public law.

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A bond with equity warrants is a bond that involves warrants. A bond with an equity warrant is sold on the primary market with its warrant attached. However, the two components have separate secondary markets. Bonds with equity warrants are loans with subscription rights, i.e. subscribers receive, in addition to principal and interest payments, the right to subscribe to the issuer's shares at a specified price and during a specified period. If the credit institution holds detached warrants, they are to be treated as shares and equity. They should not be reported in this category.

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Bonds belong to capital market claims (original maturity of over 12 months) such as ordinary bonds (reference loans/benchmark loans), debentures, warrant bonds of bond format, convertible bonds and perpetuals, and other capital market claims equal to them.
In the statistics on outstanding credit, shares, derivatives and mutual funds shares are not included in out-standing credit.

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Bonds classified as investments (to be held to maturity), e.g. bonds, debentures and other bond loans, such as corporate loans, convertible bonds and bonds with equity warrant.

MFI (monetary financial institution) holdings of bonds classified as debt securities. Insurance corporation holdings of bonds classified as investments (including insurance corporation reserves for equity-linked policies).

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Other bonds than bonds classified as investments (i.e. as being held to maturity) in the bond holder's annual accounts.

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Bonuses and allowances not paid in each pay period are such as performance-based bonuses, holiday bonus and holiday supplement and seniority increments paid in some hourly paid fields. Payment of one-off pay components can also be based on collectively bargained agreements.

Structural statistics on wages and salaries:
Holiday supplement paid for days off not taken is not included in these bonuscomponents in the structural statistics on wages and salaries.

Index of wage and salary earnings:
The index of wage and salary earnings measures the development of earnings from regular working hours regardless of the mode of payment. Components paid on the basis of performance are included in the earnings concept so that they are divided evenly over the whole calendar year. Similarly, bonuses and allowances not paid in each pay period based on collective agreements are evenly divided for the whole year. All these components belonging to the concept of index of wage and salary earnings, such as holiday bonuses are not included in data on wages and salaries used in the calculation of the index, but they are taken into consideration in index calculation only in case changes in their relative share are agreed in collective bargaining. In the index of wage and salary earnings contractual pay increases paid retrospectively are also taken to the quarter when they were earned.

Labour cost survey:
In the concepts of the labour cost survey compensations for termination of an employment relationship belonging to bonuses and allowances not paid in each pay period are included in social costs.

Labour cost index:
In the labour cost index bonuses and allowances not paid in each pay period also include contractual pay increases paid retrospectively from previous pay periods. The labour cost index also contains incentive stock options according to their exercise value.
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Bonuses and allowances not paid in each pay period are not published in the statistics on private sector and local government wages and salaries. These components are not included in the index of regular earnings.

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Book is a non-periodical printed publication that is available to the public. There is no page limit, but publications having 4-48 pages form a group of their own, ephemera. In addition to books distributed commercially, also studies, reports and other publications by authorities, municipalities, clubs, associations, educational establishments etc. are considered books. Material for temporary use, such as commercial prints, brochures, price lists, annual reports and programmes are not books.

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Branches are local units without separate legal identity, which are dependent on foreign-owned enterprises. A branch is treated as a quasi-enterprise and has a fixed establishment (cf. foreign corporation).

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There are several definitions for this concept

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A budget is the plan for the financial administration of the municipality or joint municipal board. The budget for the budgetary year is approved before the end of the previous year by the council of the municipality or joint municipal board.

According to the Local Government Act the budget includes the appropriations required by the operational targets and revenue estimates and indicates how the financing needs will be met. According to the budget recommendation of the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, the budget is divided into the operational economy, investments, the profit and loss account, and financing. The structures of the profit and loss account and financing parts correspond to the formats for the profit and loss account and the funds statement of the municipality and joint municipal board.

The Local Government Act stipulates that the budget must be observed in municipal activities and financial administration. The council decides on revisions to the budget. The accounting of the municipality or joint municipal board monitors the realisation of the budget and the financial statement includes a comparative report on the realisation of the budget.

If the municipality or joint municipal board has enterprises following the municipal enterprise model, the profit and loss statement part of the budget includes the settlements between the municipality or joint municipal board and their municipal enterprises (internal interests paid and return on the municipal enterprise's basic capital) but not the municipal enterprise's "own" profit and loss estimates. The profit and loss statement part of the budget is therefore not comparable with the profit and loss statement of the financial statement, as municipal enterprises are entered into the latter line by line, eliminating internal items.

If a municipality has municipal enterprises, it must, according to the budget recommendation of the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, publish also a profit and loss statement part in its budget which contains the municipal enterprise's profit and loss statement estimates and from which interest paid on internal loans and returns on basic capital have been eliminated.

Only a part of municipal enterprises follow the municipal enterprise model.

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Budget deficit in Finland refers to the net financing requirement of the state budget, calculated on cash basis as the difference between state income and expenditure before borrowing and amortisations.

National accounts data on deficit/surplus (net borrowing/lending) are obtained from net financing requirement via several correction items. In national accounts, net borrowing/lending may not be influenced by items representing financial transactions (changes in receivables and liabilities), such as borrowing, received loan repayments or other financial investments.

More incidental items are represented by the emission and exchange rate gains and losses which appear in the state budget in so far as they are not included in national accounts interest items. Accounting differences arise where net income of state enterprises that are part of the private sector continue to be treated as part of the public sector for national accounts purposes. Divergences from cash based calculations also arise because of taxes, subsidies and interests being recorded in some cases not on a cash basis but on an accrual basis or a time adjusted basis, and because of other recording or timing differences of a more incidental nature.

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A building refers to any independent structure permanently constructed or erected on its site. It has its own entrance and contains covered space intended for different purposes, usually enclosed within outer walls or walls separating it from other structures (buildings).

Caves and other subterranean spaces which are mainly enclosed within rock or similar walls and/or which do not contain structures comparable to the interior structures of buildings proper, for example underground oil tanks, are not buildings.

Stalls, kiosks, etc. that do not contain space separated by closed walls, and transportable caravans, ships, etc. are not classified as buildings.

The building stock statistics do not include:
- free-time residences
- buildings intended for storing liquids
- buildings used only in agricultural production
- sauna buildings belonging to residential buildings
- outhouses of residential buildings
- buildings entirely controlled by foreign missions
- buildings of the Armed Forces
- air raid shelters
except in cases where such buildings are occupied or contain business premises.

The data on buildings come from the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre.

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The building cost index is an index of input prices that describes development in the prices of factors of production, materials, wages and salaries and other inputs of building trade relative to the average price level of a base year.

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The building material refers to the material from which the vertical supporting structures of the building are mainly made. The classification is as follows:
- concrete, light concrete
- brick
- steel
- wood
- other, unknown.

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Building trade refers to commercial building against payment. Cf. Independent building.

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There are several definitions for this concept

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Business ID, or business and organisation code, is an identifying code given by authorities to all legal units.

The Business ID consists of seven numbers, a hyphen and a control number.

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A register containing the data decreed in the Business Information Act as having to be entered into a Business Information System.

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The operational database of the Business Register is a database where the units of the Register of Enterprises and Establishments and data concerning them are maintained. The Business Register service database and the statistical data file of the Business Register are compiled from the operational database of the Business Register.

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A business enterprise is an economic unit that covers its expenditure fully or at least mainly with income from sales, interests, dividends or insurance premiums. The principal objective of a business enterprise is to produce goods or services for sales on the market at prices that cover their production costs or to serve business enterprises engaged in such activity.

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Business loans (loans to enterprises and households of own-account workers) include all lending to sectors S.1111-S.1112 (Public and private non-financial corporations) and S.141 (Households of employers and own-account workers), including housing loans.

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A business prohibition can be imposed on a private practitioner of trade, whose business involves the accounting obligation decreed in the Accounting Act (655/1973), on a partner in a general partnership, a liable partner in a limited partnership and a member of a European economic interest group and those, who are corporation board members or managing directors or in other comparable positions, similarly as those, who in actual fact direct the activity of the corporation or foundation or a foreign branch or manage its administration.

A business prohibition can be imposed on the above-mentioned person if he or she has in his or her business activity essentially neglected his or her statutory duties or has been found guilty of a criminal activity. A business prohibition may also be imposed for the following offences: distribution of a sexually offensive picture (Criminal Code, Chapter 17, Section 18), aggravated distribution of a sexually offensive picture depicting a child (Criminal Code, Chapter 17, Section 18a), possession of a sexually offensive picture depicting a child (Criminal Code, Chapter 17, Section 19), trafficking in human beings (Criminal Code, Chapter 25, Section 3), and aggravated trafficking in human beings (Criminal Code, Chapter 25, Section 3a). A business prohibition may also be imposed for the offences of pandering (Criminal Code, Chapter 20, Section 9) and aggravated pandering (Criminal Code, Chapter 20, Section 9a) if the object is a person aged under 18.

A business prohibition may be imposed for at least three years and for at most seven years. (Act on business prohibitions 1059/1985).

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The Business Register service database is a service database formed from the units in the Register of Enterprises and Establishments, and contains data for customer service purposes on enterprises, state agencies, municipalities, joint municipal boards and their establishments. The service database is updated monthly.

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Data on all multiple-establishment enterprises employing at least 10 persons and on large, single-establishment enterprises are collected annually with the Business Register's own surveys. Units of small enterprises are surveyed by means of a sample stratified by industry. Established new enterprises are usually included once in the survey of new enterprises fairly shortly after the start of their operation.

Data are obtained with own surveys on distributions of employees and turnover between establishments, on industries and on the location addresses of establishments. Numbers of employees are estimated from data on wages and salaries for enterprises not included in the surveys.

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A new Act on Business Restructuring entered into force on 8 February 1993. The purpose of the Act is to ameliorate the situation of enterprises in financial difficulties.

Business restructuring is an alternative to bankruptcy. The proceedings aim at securing the continuation of the operations of a viable enterprise. It is at the court of justice's discretion to decide whether the enterprise would be viable after the restructuring.

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1) Legal services, accounting, auditing, bookkeeping, administrative and public relations services:

Legal services cover all legal advisory and representation services in any legal, judicial and statutory procedures and drafting services of legal documents and instruments. It also covers certification consultancy, auditing and bookkeeping services, tax consulting services and preparation of tax documents, analysing services of financial statements, management consultancy and management auditing services. Also included are services related to improvement of public image and other PR activity.

2) Advertising, market research and public opinion polling:

Advertising, market research and public opinion polling cover the design, creation and marketing of advertisements by advertising agencies. It also covers media placement, including the purchase and sale of advertising space, exhibition services provided by trade fairs, editorial services, and telemarketing. Also included are services related to market research and public opinion polling on various issues as well as the promotion of products abroad.

3) Research and development services (R&D):

Research and development services cover payments that relate to basic research, applied research and experimental development of new products and processes. Research and development also covers research in social sciences and humanities.

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The category of business and professional trips comprises all business and professional activities outside the usual environment. The visitor takes the professional trip because of requirements related to his/her occupation or the economic activity of the production unit for which he/she works. This category includes sales to foreign enterprises, attending meetings, conferences or congresses, trade fairs and exhibitions, employer incentive tours, etc. Usually it is the employer who pays the costs for business trip.

In the Finnish Travel survey this category of trips goes under the heading 'Business/conference'.

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