Integrated Business Statistics Program (IBSP)
Reporting Guide
This guide is designed to assist you as you complete the 2015 Annual Wholesale Trade Survey. If you need more information, please call the Statistics Canada Help Line at the number below.
Help Line: 1-800-858-7921
Your answers are confidential.
Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act.
Statistics Canada will use information from this survey for statistical purposes.
Table of contents
Reporting instructions
Business activity
Reporting period information
Revenue
Expenses
Industry Characteristics
E-commerce
Sales by type of client
Province/country of origin and destination of goods sold
Reporting instructions
1. Please print in ink.
2. Please report all dollar amounts in thousands of Canadian dollars ('000 CAN$).
3. Do not include sales tax
4. All dollar amounts reported should be rounded to the nearest whole dollar (e.g., $55,417.40 should be rounded to $55,417). All percentages reported should be rounded to the nearest whole percent (e.g., 37.3% to 37%, 75.8% to 76%).
5. When precise figures are not available, please provide your best estimates.
Business activity
The description on file for this business comes from the North American Industrial Classifications System (NAICS). This database contains a limited number of activity classifications. The classifications on file might be applicable for this business or organization, even if it is not exactly how you would describe this business or organization’s main activity.
By selecting "Yes, this is the main activity.", you indicate that the description is applicable, and it describes the main economic activity which typically generates the most revenue for this business or organization.
By selecting "No, this is secondary activity." you indicate that the description is applicable, but that there is a different economic activity which typically generates more revenue for this business or organization. You will be given a chance to describe this business or organization’s main activity, and select an appropriate classification.
By selecting "No, this description is not applicable." you indicate that this description is not applicable as a main or a secondary activity of this business or organization. You will be given a chance to describe this business or organization’s main activity, and provide an appropriate classification.
Reporting period information
For this survey, please report information for this business’s most recent 12 month fiscal period
Note: For this survey, the End date should fall between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016.
- May 1, 2014 to April 30, 2015
- June 1, 2014 to May 31, 2015
- July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015
- August 1, 2014 to July 31, 2015
- September 1, 2014 to August 31, 2015
- October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015
- November 1, 2014 to October 31, 2015
- December 1, 2014 to November 30, 2015
- January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015
- February 1, 2015 to January 31, 2016
- March 1, 2015 to February 28, 2016
- April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016
Here are other examples of fiscal periods that fall within the required dates:
- September 18, 2014 to September 15, 2015 (e.g., floating year-end)
- June 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015 (e.g., a newly opened business)
Revenue
- Sales of goods and services (e.g., fees, admissions, services revenue)
Sales of products and services are defined as amounts derived from the sale of products and services (cash or credit), falling within a business’s ordinary activities. Sales should be reported net of trade discount, value added tax and other taxes based on sales.
Include: Sales from Canadian locations (domestic and export sales); Transfers to other business units or a head office of your firm.
Exclude: Transfers into inventory and consignment sales; Federal, provincial and territorial sales taxes and excise duties and taxes; intracompany sales in consolidated financial statements.
- Rental and leasing
Include: Rental or leasing of apartments, commercial buildings, land, office space, residential housing, investments in co-tenancies and co-ownerships, hotel or motel rooms, long and short term vehicle leasing, machinery or equipment, storage lockers, etc.
- Commissions
Include: Commissions earned on the sale of products or services by businesses such as advertising agencies, brokers, insurance agents, lottery ticket sales, sales representatives, and travel agencies – (compensation could also be reported under this item (for example, compensation for collecting sales tax)).
- Subsidies (including grants, donations and fundraising)
Include: Non-repayable grants, contributions and subsidies from all levels of government; Revenue from private sector (corporate and individual) sponsorships, donations and fundraising.
- Royalties rights, licensing and franchise fees
A royalty is defined as a payment received by the holder of a copyright, trademark or patent.
Include: Revenue received from the sale or use of all intellectual property rights of copyrighted materials such as musical, literary, artistic or dramatic works, sound recordings or the broadcasting of communication signals.
- Dividends
Include: Dividend income; Dividends from Canadian sources; Dividends from foreign sources; Patronage dividends.
Exclude: Equity income from investments in subsidiaries or affiliates.
- Interest
Include: Investment revenue; Interest from foreign sources; Interest from Canadian bonds and debentures; Interest from Canadian mortgage loans; Interest from other Canadian sources.
Exclude: Equity income from investments in subsidiaries or affiliates.
- Other revenue (please specify)
Include: Amounts not included in questions (1) to (7).
- Total revenue
The sum of sub-questions (1) to (8).
Expenses
- Cost of goods sold
Many business units distinguish their costs of materials from their other business expenses (selling, general and administrative). This item is included to allow you to easily record your costs/expenses according to your normal accounting practices.
Include: Cost of raw materials and/or goods purchased for re-sale – net of discounts earned on purchases; Freight in and duty.
- Employment costs and expenses
- Salaries, wages and commissions
Please report all salaries and wages (including taxable allowances and employment commissions as defined on the T4 – Statement of Remuneration Paid) before deductions for this reporting period.
Include: Vacation pay; Bonuses (including profit sharing); Employee commissions; Taxable allowances (e.g., room and board, vehicle allowances, gifts such as airline tickets for holidays); Severance pay.
Exclude: All payments and expenses associated with casual labour and outside contract workers (report these amounts at question 3 - Subcontracts).
- Employee benefits
Include contributions to: Health plans; Insurance plans; Employment insurance; Pension plans; Workers’ compensation; Association dues; Contributions to any other employee benefits such as child care and supplementary unemployment benefit (SUB) plans; Contributions to provincial and territorial health and education payroll taxes.
- Subcontracts
Subcontract expense refers to the purchasing of services from outside of the company rather than providing them in-house.
Include: Hired casual labour and outside contract workers; Custom work and contract work; Subcontract and outside labour; Hired labour.
- Research and development fees
Expenses from activities conducted with the intention of making a discovery that could either lead to the development of new products or procedures, or to the improvement of existing products or procedures.
- Professional and business fees
Include: Legal services; Accounting and auditing fees; Consulting fees; Education and training fees; Appraisal fees; Management and administration fees; Property management fees; Information technology (IT) consulting and service fees (purchased); Architectural fees; Engineering fees; Scientific and technical service fees; Other consulting fees (management, technical and scientific); Veterinary fees; Fees for human health services; Payroll preparation fees; All other professional and business service fees.
Exclude: Service fees paid to Head Office (report at question 21 - All other costs and expenses).
- Utilities
Utility expenses related to operating your business unit such as water, electricity, gas, heating and hydro.
Include: Diesel, wood, natural gas, oil and propane; Sewage.
Exclude: Energy expenses covered in your rental and leasing contracts; Telephone, Internet and other telecommunications; (report this amount at question 8. - Telephone, Internet and other telecommunication); Vehicle fuel (report at question 21 - All other costs and expenses).
- Office and computer related expenses
Include: Office stationery and supplies, paper and other supplies for photocopiers, printers and fax machines; Postage and courier (used in the day to day office business activity); Diskettes and computer upgrade expenses; Data processing.
Exclude: Telephone, Internet and other telecommunication expenses (report this amount at question 8 - Telephone, Internet and other telecommunication).
- Telephone, Internet and other telecommunication
Include: Internet; Telephone and telecommunications; Cellular telephone; Fax machine; Pager.
- Business taxes, licenses and permits
Include: Property taxes paid directly and property transfer taxes; Vehicle license fees; Beverage taxes and business taxes; Trade license fees; Membership fees and professional license fees; Provincial capital tax.
- Royalties, franchise fees and memberships
Include: Amounts paid to holders of patents, copyrights, performing rights and trademarks; Gross overriding royalty expenses and direct royalty costs; Resident and non-resident royalty expenses; Franchise fees.
Exclude: Crown royalties
- Crown charges
Federal or Provincial royalty, tax, lease or rental payments made in relation to the acquisition, development or ownership of Canadian resource properties.
Include: Crown royalties; Crown leases and rentals; Oil sand leases; Stumpage fees.
- Rental and leasing
Include: Lease rental expenses, real estate rental expenses, condominium fees and equipment rental expenses; Motor vehicle rental and leasing expenses; Studio lighting and scaffolding; Machinery and equipment rental expenses; Storage expenses; Road and construction equipment rental; Fuel and other utility costs covered in your rental and leasing contracts.
- Repair and maintenance
Include: Buildings and structures; Machinery and equipment; Security equipment; Vehicles; Costs related to materials, parts and external labour associated with these expenses; Janitorial and cleaning services and garbage removal.
- Amortization and depreciation
Include: Direct cost depreciation of tangible assets and amortization of leasehold improvements; Amortization of intangible assets (e.g., amortization of goodwill, patents, franchises, copyrights, trademarks, deferred charges, organizational costs).
- Insurance
Insurance recovery income should be deducted from insurance expenses.
Include: Professional and other liability insurance; Motor vehicle and property insurance; Executive life insurance; Bonding, business interruption insurance and fire insurance.
- Advertising, marketing, promotion, meals and entertainment
Include: Newspaper advertising and media expenses; Catalogues, presentations and displays; Tickets for theatre, concerts and sporting events for business promotion; Fundraising expenses; Meals, entertainment and hospitality purchases for clients.
- Travel, meetings and conventions
Include: Travel expenses; Meeting and convention expenses, seminars; Passenger transportation (e.g., airfare, bus, train, etc.); Accommodations; Travel allowance and meals while travelling; Other travel expenses.
- Financial services
Include: Explicit service charges for financial services; Credit and debit card commissions and charges; Collection expenses and transfer fees; Registrar and transfer agent fees; Security and exchange commission fees; Other financial service fees.
Exclude: Interest expenses (report at question 19 - Interest expense).
- Interest expense
Report the cost of servicing your company’s debt.
Include: Interest; Bank charges; Finance charges; Interest payments on capital leases; Amortization of bond discounts; Interest on short-term and long-term debt, mortgages, bonds and debentures.
- Other non-production-related costs and expenses
Include: Charitable donations and political contributions; Bad debt expense; Loan losses; Provisions for loan losses (minus bad debt recoveries); Inventory adjustments
- All other costs and expenses (including intracompany expenses)
Include:
Production costs; Pipeline operations, drilling, site restoration; Gross overriding royalty; Other producing property rentals; Well operating, fuel and equipment; Other lease rentals; Other direct costs; Equipment hire and operation; Log yard expense, forestry costs, logging road costs; Freight in and duty; Overhead expenses allocated to costs of sales; Other expenses; Cash over/short (negative expense); Reimbursement of parent company expense; Warranty expense; Recruiting expenses; General and administrative expenses; Interdivisional expenses; Interfund transfer (minus expense recoveries); Exploration and Development (including prospect/geological, well abandonment & dry holes, exploration expenses, development expenses); Amounts not included in questions 1 to 20 above.
- Total expenses
The sum of sub-questions 1 to 21.
Industry Characteristics
All revenue reported should exclude sales taxes (GST/HST, PST and TVQ) and be net of returns, discounts, sales allowances, and charges for outward transportation by common or contract carriers.
- All products purchased for resale
Include: Excise taxes (such as those on gasoline, liquor, and tobacco) and other taxes that are levied on the manufacturer/importer and included in the cost of products purchased by this business unit; Sales of all products purchased for resale, please report gross sales of new and used products less returns, discounts and rebates; Parts used in generating repair and maintenance revenue, report the labour portion of repair and maintenance at question 3; Any sales made to any member company of your enterprise. Do not deduct the value of trade-ins.
Exclude: Taxes collected directly from customers and paid directly by this operating unit to provincial and federal tax agencies.
- Products manufactured as a secondary activity by this business
Report revenue from sales of products of own manufacture.
- Repair and maintenance services
Include: Labour revenue from installation, repair and maintenance work; Parts used in generating installation, repair and maintenance revenue are to be included at question 1.
- Rental and leasing of real estate
Include: Rental and leasing of office space and other real estate.
- Rental and leasing of products and equipment
Include: Rental and leasing of products and equipment whether or not they have been produced by this business.
Industry characteristics
Value of products
Report sale value of those products upon which this business has reported earning a commission or fee in the Revenue section question 1.
E-commerce
Mobile app
Include sales through any app, or application, that is downloaded and designed to run on a handheld device such as a smartphone or tablet (for example, places where a user may download these apps include Apple’s App Store, Google Play or Blackberry App World).
Company website
Include sales through a browser-based website where your organization maintains control of the content.
Third-party website
Include sales through a browser-based website where a third-party maintains the structure of the website and control of the look and feel while your company only provides the product to be sold (for example, Amazon, Expedia, Etsy).
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
A standard format for exchanging business data. EDI is based on the use of message standards, ensuring that all participants use a common language.
Sales by type of client
This section is designed to measure which sector of the economy purchases your services.
Please provide a percentage breakdown of your sales by type of client.
Please ensure that the sum of percentages reported in this section equals 100%.
- Clients in Canada
a. Individuals and households
Please report the percentage of sales to individuals and households who do not represent the business or government sector.
b. Businesses
Percentage of sales sold to the business sector should be reported here.
Include:
• Sales to Crown corporations.
c. Governments, not-for-profit organizations and public institutions (e.g., hospitals, schools)
Percentage of sales to federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments should be reported here.
Include:
• Sales to hospitals, schools, universities and public utilities.
- Clients outside Canada
Please report the percentage of total sales to customers or clients located outside Canada including foreign businesses, foreign individuals, foreign institutions and/or governments.
Include:
• Sales to foreign subsidiaries and affiliates.
Province/country of origin and destination of goods sold
For costs of goods sold and sales of goods:
Report the total cost of goods for this product. In the following question, you will be asked to provide the percentage breakdown of the total cost of goods according to the origin of the goods (i.e., the province, territory, or country outside Canada where the goods were originally manufactured).
The origin is, to the best of your knowledge, where the products were originally produced or manufactured (i.e., which province, territory, or country outside Canada). If the origin is not known, an acceptable substitute is the location of this business’s supplier.
Note: exclude intermediate shipping points between your supplier and you.
The total for the origin should be equal to 100%.
Sales of Goods:
Report the total sales for this product. In the following question, you will be asked to provide a percentage breakdown of the total sales of this product according to the destination (that is, the province, territory, or country outside Canada where the goods will ultimately be used). For the product listed, please provide the percentage breakdown of the sales according to the destination.
The destination, to the best of your knowledge, where the goods will ultimately be used (i.e., which province, territory, or country outside Canada). Acceptable substitutes are: Shipping destinations; Location of retail customers; Location of warehouses.
The percentages should sum to 100%.