Financial and taxation statistics for enterprises, 2020 

Data on annual net income before taxes in this release are expressed in current dollars.

The Financial and Taxation Statistics for Enterprises survey represents the activities of all corporations in Canada, except government business enterprises. This survey reports data on balance sheets, income statements, and the reconciliation of accounting income and taxable income.

An enterprise can be a single corporation or a family of corporations under common ownership or control, for which consolidated financial statements are produced.

Survey changes

The following changes were introduced to the survey starting with reference year 2020.

1. New content was implemented in reference year 2020 to align the survey to new accounting standards adopted by corporations.
2. New industrial breakdowns, which allow for more granularity in the dissemination of data, were implemented. As a result, some industry groupings were merged, others were split and some remained the same as before.
3. A more automated imputation strategy was implemented to streamline the process.

Analytical focus change

Up to reference year 2019, the Financial and Taxation Statistics for Enterprises survey focused its analysis primarily on operating profit and losses to track the financial performance of enterprises. Operating profits are profits an enterprise earns from its core business operations and are the difference between operating revenues and operating expenses.

As of reference year 2020, the survey's analytical focus has changed from operating profit to net income before taxes. There are several reasons for this change. First, the response rate for the cost of goods sold variable, which is a major determinant of operating profits, has declined over time. Moreover, the accounts used by financial and non-financial industries differed because of the nature of their activities, with some enterprises no longer reporting operating profits in their financial statements.

Second, changes to accounting standards in 2006 (new financial instrument standards) and in 2011 (adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards) included the introduction of gains and losses in asset revaluations. This further complicated the calculation of operating profits.

Lastly, the survey, being an economy-wide program, required concepts with a certain degree of comparability among enterprises and industries for assessing and comparing their financial performance.

Net income before taxes is income earned from an enterprise's normal activities. It is a more inclusive measure, and its calculations are standardized between enterprises and industries.

Revisions and backcasting

Because of the new content and changes in industry groupings introduced in the survey as of reference year 2020, its estimates are not directly comparable to those of previous reference years. This makes historical comparisons of estimates difficult. To alleviate this problem and allow for better historical comparisons, efforts are being made to backcast the data to the 2010 reference year.

Larger-than-usual revisions may be anticipated in the future as a result of annual revisions and backcasting of the survey data.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).