Methodological Manual on European Structural Business Statistics - 2021 Edition

Sep 12, 2026

Methodological Manual on European Structural Business Statistics (SBS) for the 2021 edition provides practical guidance for interpreting the legislative framework for European business statistics and turning legal concepts into day-to-day compilation work. It explains why SBS serves as an “overlooked workhorse” by delivering detailed structural indicators that go beyond National Accounts inputs. The manual supports efficient, high-quality and comparable data production across EU Member States and the European Economic Area through harmonised concepts, metadata, compilation processes and data transmission.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages228

Reading Time1 h 20 min

AccessFree to download

Foreword

Purpose and role of SBS

Scope of topics

Methodology maintenance and updates

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Methodological manual on European Structural Business Statistics 2021 edition MAN UAL S AN D GU I D E LI N E S Methodological manual on European Structural Business Statistics 2021 edition Manuscript completed in September 2021 This document should not be considered as representative of the European Commission’s official position. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2021 © European Union, 2021 The reuse policy of European Commission documents is implemented based on Commission Decision 2011/833/EU of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39) . Except otherwise noted, the reuse of this document is authorised under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4 .0) licence ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)) . This means that reuse is allowed provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated. For any use or reproduction of elements that are not owned by the European Union, permission may need to be sought directly from the respective rightholders. The European Union does not own the copyright in relation to the following elements: For more information, please consult: [https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/about/policies/copyrigh](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/about/policies/copyright)[t](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/about/policies/copyright) Copyright for the photograph: Cover © [iStock.com/Smederevac](iStock.com/Smederevac) The information and views set out in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein. Theme: Industry, trade and services Collection: Manuals and guidelines PDF: ISBN 978-92-76-41516-9 ISSN 2315-0815 doi: 10.2785/332431 KS-GQ-21-016-EN-N Foreword This first release of a manual on European Structural Business Statistics is an important milestone for SBS compilers in the European Statistical System. It complements the legislative framework for European Business Statistics 1 with guidance on how to interpret it in a practical and ever-changing setting. While the essential concepts and definitions are laid down in law, the manual provides further guidance on how to turn theory into practice. SBS are probably the “overlooked workhorse” in economic statistics. They give a comprehensive insight into the structure of the business sector providing many indicators and detailed breakdowns. The raw data collected from businesses and administrative registers provide an input to the compilation of National Accounts. However, SBS have their own raison d’être because it allows users to access significantly more detailed information on the business sector than National Accounts. Member States have been producing SBS for many decades and the domain can generally be considered to be mature. Nevertheless, changes in the business sector, accounting rules, and newly available data sources require continued clarification, adaptation and development of the SBS methodological framework. This enables SBS compilers to produce SBS with increased efficiency and with the known high quality, also in today’s changing business environment. In particular, the manual contains guidance for producing comparable and harmonised data across the EU Member States and the other countries of the European Economic Area. The manual covers a diverse set of topics ranging from the legal requirements to concepts, the data compilation process, metadata and the data transmission. It represents the experiences gained over many years and collects in one place the content of a number of documents of which most have been discussed in the SBS Working Group. It is a living reference document and it is expected that it will be updated reg

FAQs

What is the purpose of this 2021 edition manual on SBS?

It provides practical guidance to interpret the legislative framework for European Business Statistics and to turn legal concepts and definitions into compilation practice for SBS.

Why are Structural Business Statistics considered important for users?

SBS provide comprehensive insight into the structure of the business sector and offer much more detailed information than National Accounts, enabling richer access to business-structure indicators and breakdowns.

What areas does the manual cover?

It covers a wide range of topics including legal requirements, key concepts, the data compilation process, metadata, and data transmission, aiming at comparability across countries.

Sep 12, 2026

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