The IES 1 and Its Importance For Organisations

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1 Structural Business Statistics: an integrated and simplified system to comply with multiobligations. The creation of the IES 1 in Portugal Helena CORDEIRO Vice-President, Statistics Portugal Abstract In Portugal development and production of statistics face a new paradigm with the use of administrative data for producing structural business statistics. Now Structural Business Statistics are obtained from one single administrative source and are collected by electronic means, web form, at one single moment. Now enterprises at one single moment and based on the same system are able to provide data for: i) taxes administration; ii) publishing of corporate annual accounts on the Public Register; iii) statistical data to Statistics Portugal; and iv) accounting data to the Banco de Portugal. Without strong political and legislative support it was not achievable. 1. Introduction The new simplified reporting system for corporate information (IES: Informação Empresarial Simplificada) was formally created by legislation (Decree-Law n. 8/2007) of 17 th January in Portugal. It allows enterprises to fulfil four obligations through one sole electronic (web form) submission of data and at one moment in time. In the context of an ambitious programme of administrative simplification and modernisation carried out by the Portuguese Government it was possible to join efforts and create the new model which has been discussed for quite some time. Under the leadership of the Ministry of Justice the new reporting system IES was the result of a working group of experts, besides Ministry of Justice from the Ministry of Finance, Banco de Portugal (Central Bank) and Statistics Portugal. It was not a recent idea but it took the political support in a friendly environment for simplification and modernization to finally emerge as a new reporting system. It took time, it was hard and 1 IES - simplified reporting system for corporate information 1

2 frustrating some times but worthwhile: all players are happy with the results achieved after one year of its implementation. Among the key factors for success it is necessary to note i) the political support for the project; and ii) the good cooperation among several public entities aiming at reducing the administrative report burden. Through the electronic submission of the IES corporations are able to fulfil obligations to the fiscal authorities, accounting requirements to the Ministry of Justice and statistical obligations to Banco de Portugal and Statistics Portugal. As a consequence these institutions are no longer allowed to request further accounting annual data from companies. As a result Statistics Portugal have discontinued several surveys with clear benefits to companies. For the overall National Statistical System and mostly for Statistics Portugal, the new model of collecting data has led to a new stage of production of statistics on enterprises, based on administrative data, with a large coverage in terms of statistical units (enterprises) and in terms of variables, making it possible (by freeing resources) to re-direct towards increasing consistency and updating of annual data. In sum, this model translates indeed in a real reduction of both administrative burden, in general, and statistical burden, in particular, for both companies and Statistics Portugal. Other new projects are being developed sharing the same philosophy of simplification and aiming at further exploring administrative data. At European level similar progress can and shall be achieved in several fields. This paper describes the Portuguese experience in promoting the simplification of reporting system for enterprises. It is organized in four sections: Section 2 describes the IES: concept, legislation, and data flows Section 3 describes the results in terms of burden and statistical products Section 4 illustrates spill over effects and other similar projects 2. The process towards the IES 2.1. The concept Early 2006, only after a long and persistent work and taking advantage of the strong political motivation for simplification of business procedures in the context of the Simplex Programme (National Government Program for Administrative and Legislative Simplification) it was possible to develop the new model of single reporting. During those years Statistics Portugal engaged with the public users of enterprise data and searched for a solution that could allow for one single information collection. Since the beginning it became clear that good results could only be 2

3 achieved if based on a good conjunction of efforts not only from public entities but also from other actors in the process. Among the latter it is worth noting as key players for the success the involvement and commitment of the Chamber of Chartered Accountants and the software producers. Indeed the aim of Statistics Portugal was twofold: i) to contribute to the reduction of costs associated to data collection; and ii) to reduce the burden on enterprises/respondents, since until then enterprises were obliged to provide the same data, using different transmission formats (mostly in paper form) to several entities. In addition, other improvements concerning simplification and consistency were achieved as a result of harmonization and alignment of definitions and concepts taking as the basis those used by Statistics Portugal, which are already aligned with the European Union requirements. The first step was to define the set of data that shall be collected in order to meet the needs and avoid overlapping/duplication of variables. Our experience over the last 15 years with the Structural Business Survey was quite important since it made possible to anticipate the main difficulties that enterprises faced to answer all the requirements. It was crucial, for the success of this process that definitions and concepts be identical for all the entities involved. In that regard, while the chartered accounting system already uses harmonized concepts and definitions, it was agreed that the concepts and definitions for statistical purposes, shall be adopted by all. At the same time it was decided that the new system would have to rely on a fully dematerialized implementation. Therefore the option of delivering data in paper support was simply abolished. In addition it was accepted as the most suitable format for the new system the platform already used for taxes purposes. Since 2002 in Portugal enterprises can only submit their taxes declarations (VAT declaration, annual tax declaration, etc.) using electronic means and no paper forms are accepted. The issue of quality control was crucial from the beginning and great attention was devoted to it. It was necessary to find the appropriate balance between the unavailability of heavy set of checks when data is delivering by electronic means and the need to respect the checks pertaining to the accounting system. As a result more than checks have been implemented, including those associated to the consistency of accounting data. 3

4 In sum, the IES was developed in order to be a form of delivery, by electronic means, of obligations of data of accounting, fiscal and statistical nature. It entails three key elements: a common delivery mechanism; a common set of variables; and a common validation process. As a result of the IES, all data that enterprises have to submit on its annual accounts are exclusively transmitted at a single moment and to a single entity, through an electronic form. IES is submitted through the site of the Ministry of Finance, taking advantage of the existing platform with which enterprises are quite familiar. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for delivering data to the Ministry of Justice (in fact the owner of the database although each entity can perform whatever tests and checks it wants) and finally the latter distributes the data to Banco de Portugal and Statistics Portugal. 2.2 The legislative process In order to implement the IES several pieces of legislation have been approved, namely: Decree-Law No. 8/2007, of 17 of January, establishing the IES; Executive Order No. 208/2007, of 16 of February, defining the variables that shall be transmitted, revised by the Executive Order No. 8/2008 (for year 2007); Executive Order No. 499/2007, of 30 of April, establishing the data transmission process from enterprises to Tax administration and from Tax administration to Statistics Portugal, revised by the Executive Order No. 245/2008. The IES calls for many details of corporate information. It includes a cover page concerning general information on the company and 13 annexes to be filled in with annual data. These annexes allow for the different types of companies (non-financial, financial and insurance), nature of data (consolidated and non-consolidated), and type of content (the corporation as a legal entity or each establishment of the corporation). For the first reporting year a longer delay (exceptionally until September 15) for data delivery was agreed in order to facilitate the adjustment. The Chamber of Chartered Accountants, with the technical support of Statistics Portugal carried out about 50 workshops all over the country to prepare accountants to the new reality. Several national professional associations after having own members trained contributed greatly to scaling up the impact. The collaboration of the Software houses that produce software and systems to support the elaboration of the accounting was fundamental for the success. 4

5 It is yet important to point out the strong political support for the project from the Secretary of State for Justice who had professional experience in the field of statistics without any interference in technical aspects, was crucial. Statistics Portugal is thus in conditions to produce better business statistical information in shorter delays and under lower cost for both enterprises and the NSI. 2.3 The dataflow For the implementation of the IES a dataflow for the transmission of data from enterprises to the different entities involved was established. The flow was defined in order i) to generate lower costs, ii) to ensure faster deliver data; iii) to enable each entity to treat the data received according to its needs; and, iv) to guarantee to Statistics Portugal the full respect of confidentiality of statistical data. Validation process Enterprises submission of data Public Register s Accounts Reports Electronic Collection Taxes System Statistical Confidentiality SBS Statistics Portugal Data store Data ware house Survey 1 Survey 2 Validation process Editing process Survey... Contacts with enterprises Survey n Picture 1 IES Dataflow The dataflow (picture above), in this new system, consists of the delivery of an electronic declaration from enterprises, or from a chartered accountants duly authorized on behalf of the enterprise, through a https protocol (secure connection), although deliveries are made online, a web service can also be used. The supporting system includes a set of coherence rules (checks) in order to guarantee the consistency of all the submitted data. Once data is received, a first validation check process takes place in order to ensure that the declaration (data) meets a set of requirements in case it does not fulfil it, the declaration is rejected and a new one must be submitted. Once accepted, the declaration (data) is transmitted to 5

6 the Ministry of Justice and, within 48 hours in accordance with the Law (but in reality within few hours), to Statistics Portugal, without any transformation. From the moment the correct format is confirmed data are subjected to statistical confidentiality. When received by Statistics Portugal, each declaration (data) is submitted to a second stage process of control, which guarantees the internal coherence of the information, and compares with data from the same enterprise for the previous year and from enterprises with similar characteristics (size class and activity). If outliers are detected, Statistics Portugal contacts directly the enterprise. However the outcome of such contact (with or without changes of the data initially submitted) is not transmitted to any other involved entities. Thus the principle of confidentiality is safeguarded. In case the enterprise submits a new IES declaration through the system, data are received within 48 hours by the Statistics Portugal. Finally after editing and quality checks the data are included in Statistics Portugal Data warehouse and used primarily in the framework of Structural Business Statistics and National Accounts. The common variables are used in the context of other sample surveys. 3. The results: reduced burden and better statistics The IES offers clear and significant benefits for the enterprises and for the entities involved. For the enterprises the greatest advantage results from fulfilling tax, legal and statistical obligations with a single reporting with significant reduction of administrative and statistical burden, although a much larger number of companies (whole population) is participating. 3.1 Advantages for enterprises and NSI For the enterprises the new reporting system represents a significant reduction of administrative costs associated to the fulfilment of those legal obligations. Typically this does not imply reporting less information. Instead through one single reporting format they avoid multiple reporting in different formats and timings. For financial and insurance companies both statistical and regulatory obligations are met without any additional burden. Accountants can provide all data directly from their own systems once the software has been adapted. As indicated above the Software Houses were instrumental in contributing for the largest reduction of burden since data is directly transferred from the company accounting system. For Statistics Portugal the advantages are also clear and significant both in terms of resources and mostly in terms of quality and timeliness of data. All data are received in electronic format, 6

7 transmitted daily, facilitating producing statistics. The whole population of enterprises ( ) is covered and no need for estimation remains. The Structural Business Statistics Survey (SBS) covering enterprises has been discontinued without any loss of information (1800 variables in IES of which 60 for statistical purposes only compared with 1250 in SBS). Earlier access to data by end of June n+1 90% of data is available compared to January n+2 previously speeds up dissemination of high quality statistics. Statistics Portugal only carries out annual business surveys to collect information not available from the IES. In addition greater consistency is now possible with calibration for all sectoral sampling surveys still carried out. By combining with data on individual/family business and professionals Statistics Portugal is able now to report on all economic units. 3.2 Statistical results For the National Statistical System as a whole and Statistics Portugal in particular, the new form of obtaining corporate data reflects a new stage of the statistical production on business, based upon administrative data, covering a large range of data in terms of statistical units, and their characteristics. It allows for reorienting the statistical activity towards further data consistency and analysis. It is important to point out that the IES allows for collecting the all data needed for the production of Business Statistics. In fact, thanks to the IES the sampling survey of Structural Business Statistics has been eliminated as such. From March 2007 onwards, and for 2006 as reference year, the Portuguese enterprises have started to transmit at a single moment and by electronic format, a set of annual data that has been used for statistical and fiscal purposes and for compliance with settlement of accounts obligation. At present (June 2008) enterprises are delivering data for 2007 (the second year of IES). Based on data for 2006, the first year of the IES, Statistics Portugal has carried out several studies on quality. For enterprises that have answered to the 2005 SBS survey, comparisons have been made and the results are quite positive. Very few errors were detected but it was decided that better clarification of some definitions, namely in the area of employment variables was needed. Since data are transferred directly from the enterprise accounting system into the IES system possible because software houses were involved in putting this system in place there is no need to manipulate but further clarification of definitions was needed. In our view the involvement of software producers has resulted in the biggest factor responsible for reducing administrative costs for the enterprises. In future the use of XBRL will be explored but for the moment there is a commitment to the enterprises of no change in the system in the near future. 7

8 4. Other similar projects under way and spill over effects Following the short but positive experience of implementing the IES and more importantly of developing the close cooperation among public entities in the use of administrative data few other similar projects are being prepared at national level. Few are in fact being developed under the aegis of the Statistical Council. The Statistical Council has created a working group to develop an integrated online public data base for the NACE classification of companies (SICAE Sistema de Informação da Classificação das Actividades Económicas). This project aims at creating a single register on the NACE classification of companies that can be accessed on-line for the use of statistical entities and for all other purposes such as fiscal and administrative uses. At the end it will be the only legally valid register on the NACE classification. The project is being developed by basically the same entities that have developed the IES (Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Banco de Portugal and Statistics Portugal) and the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity, building upon the same philosophy and approach. In fact this project has emerged from the need that all the institutions participated in the IES use the same NACE code for each enterprise. The objectives of the project are the following: i) to clarify and simplify the NACE classification of companies as well as its change; ii) to improve quality of administrative and statistical data associated to economic activity; and iii) to simplify administrative procedures and updates of primary raw data. Under this new system different entities will be allowed to propose changes to the NACE classification of companies but the operational responsibility to accept and decide on them lies with Statistics Portugal (with recourse to the Statistical Council for complex or doubtful cases). The project aims at having the system fully operational yet during 2008 in order to implement the NACE classification. Yet under the aegis of the Statistical Council another project to improve the integrated register of companies for the use across the national statistical system FUE-SEN (Ficheiro de Unidades Estatísticas do Sistema Estatística Nacional) is under preparation. In this case all the entities (a larger number of entities) responsible for statistical production (regional statistical offices and different Ministries) are involved. These entities will contribute for creating and maintaining a complete and unified register of companies which will be the only source for registering of companies. Variables to be included and shared in the system are the NACE classification, institutional sector, number of employees, turnover, legal nature, among others. A link to the SICAE file will guarantee consistency between the two systems. Statistics Portugal will be 8

9 responsible for managing and maintaining this infrastructure as well for classifying most variables to be included in the system. It should be noted that the IES will play a major role in updating the FUE-SEN. In our view similar projects could be developed at European level like the European company register with single code, NACE classification, size, etc. The development of an integrated information system of local governments (municipalities) creates the conditions for improving the SIOU Sistema Integrado de Operações Urbanísticas (Indicators System of Urbanistic Operations)--through which Statistics Portugal receives data regarding building permits, registers of dwellings, etc allowing the continuous updating of the Master Sample and georeferenced information. The involvement of software houses will be important in order to ensure the harmonization and consistency of data provided by the municipalities. On the other hand, benefits, as spill over effects from the IES, are being felt across other surveys on business still carried out since the common variables are no longer collected and the consistency of results is ensured since data for those surveys are estimated on the basis of the IES. This is the case of PRODCOM (survey collecting data on industrial commodities), services provided to enterprises, material consumed by construction enterprises, sales in retail trade by CPA (product), and others. 9