Appendix 1
Sources of Data
The New Zealand data in this report has been sourced from the following Statistics New Zealand reports:
- Business Demography Statistics, as at February 2003
- Annual Enterprise Survey, financial year July - June
- 2001 Census
- Household Labour Force Survey, year ending March 2004.
Terms and Definitions
- SME - A Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise:
- In this report, small enterprises are defined as those employing 0-5 FTEs. Medium enterprises are defined as those employing 6-19 FTEs. This is a commonly held definition of an SME in New Zealand, though it is not the only way that SMEs are defined.
- Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs):
- The total number of employees and working proprietors working full-time, plus half the number of employees and working proprietors working part-time.
- A firm with zero FTEs:
- A firm with no employees or working proprietors
- Working Proprietor:
- Either a sole proprietor or partner who is actively engaged in the business or a shareholder in a limited liability company actively engaged in its management.
- How firms enter and exit the data set
- A firm that enters or exits the Business Demography Database (commonly referred to as a "birth" or "death") does not necessarily refer to the creation of a new business, or a business closure. Company restructures and changes of ownership can result in a new GST registration being filed, even though it pertains to an existing business. GST registrations are birthed onto the database, with the business being given a new reference number.
- The entry and exit of businesses is identified by matching the business reference numbers for one year with those of the previous year. Entry and exit counts in this report therefore include administrative changes as well as genuine business start-ups and closures. Entries and exits simply show the numbers of firms that enter and exit the Business Demography Statistics database.
- Survival Rates:
- Firm survival rates are identified by matching the business reference numbers for Entries in one year with those of future years.
- Australia and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) Codes:
- A - Agriculture, forestry and fishing
B - Mining
C - Manufacturing
D - Electricity, gas and water supply
E - Construction
F - Wholesale trade
G - Retail trade
H - Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
I - Transport and storage
J - Communication services
K - Finance and insurance
L - Property and business services
M - Government administration and defence
N - Education
O - Health and community services
P - Cultural and recreational services
Q - Personal and other services - SMEs in New Zealand: Structure & Dynamics (2004) and the Treasury Firm Dynamics Report Firm Dynamics in New Zealand: Comparative Analysis with OECD Countries (2004) - Why Are there Differences in the Zero FTE Figure?
- For an enterprise to be considered a zero-FTE enterprise in Structure and Dynamics, it had to have both zero FTEs and zero working proprietors. In Structure and Dynamics, 20% of enterprises were zero-FTE enterprises as at February 2003.
- In the Treasury report (specifically Tables 6 and 7, pages 32 and 33), zero-employee enterprises have zero employees but ignore the number of working proprietors in the enterprise. The report found that, on average, the number of enterprises with zero employees from 1997 to 2001 was 59.3%.
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