Unified Enterprise Survey
5-3600-123.3 STC/UES-307-75135
Reporting Guide
This guide is designed to assist you as you complete the 2011 Annual Head Office Survey. If you need more information, please call the Statistics Canada help line at the number below.
Help Line: 1-800-972-9692
Table of contents
A - Introduction
Label
Survey purpose
Main business activity
B - Revenue
C - Expenses
D - Employment at this head office
E - Events that may have affected your head office
F - Comments
A - Introduction
If the information included on the label is incorrect, please make corrections in the boxes below the label.
This survey is conducted to improve the accuracy and completeness of statistics on businesses in Canada. On behalf of the enterprise as a whole, head office entities purchase a wide range of services from external businesses (e.g., legal, advertising, insurance) and perform general administrative functions (e.g., payroll, employment, accounting). Some head offices also undertake additional actions, such as generating revenue, either through transactions with external clients or with internal clients (i.e., other entities within the same enterprise).
These data will be aggregated with information from other sources to produce official estimates of national and provincial/territorial economic production in Canada, as well as official estimates of activity by industry. Those estimates are used by government for national and regional programs and policy planning and by the private sector for industry performance measurement and market development.
Please check the category that most accurately describes the nature of your head office activities. There is usually one centralized head office within an enterprise; however, there may be many divisional or regional head offices. If your business unit does not meet either of these definitions, please call 1-800-972-9692 before resuming the questionnaires.
B - Revenue
Revenue is divided into two main categories: revenue from transactions with external clients and revenue from transactions with internal clients. Please report accordingly.
1. During the reporting period, have you recorded any exclusive head office revenue?
Please check «yes» only if this head office recorded any form of revenue that has not been reported by another entity of the same enterprise. If you check «yes» to this question, you should report this revenue in section B.
2. During the reporting period, has your head office recorded any revenue from outside Canada for services offered by employees of this head office?
Please check «yes» only if this head office recorded any form of exclusive revenue that has not been reported by another entity of the same enterprise and that is coming from outside of Canada. If you check «yes» to this question, you should report revenue in section B.
3. Sales of services produced by employees of this head office for sale to external clients
Include
- revenue generated by research and development work.
Exclude
- any revenue received from sales of goods; please report these revenues in section B, question 5.
5. Other operating revenue from external clients
Include
- commissions;
- any other operating revenue not included in another category.
11. Non-operating revenue
Include
- gains from exchange rate changes;
- any other non-operating revenue not included in another category.
C - Expenses
1. Salaries and wages of head office employees ONLY
Amounts reported for salaries, wages and commissions should be gross, before any deductions at source.
Include
- vacation pay;
- overtime payments;
- bonuses (e.g. annual, ability, Christmas, incentive, sign-on, and merit);
- director’s fees;
- profits shared with employees;
- commissions paid to regular employees;
- taxable allowances (e.g., car expenses).
Exclude
- employer contributions to workers’ compensation; please report these expenses in section C, question 2;
- employer contributions to employee welfare and benefit plans (e.g., for pensions, insurance, medicare and supplementary employment benefits); please report these expenses in section C, question 2.
2. Employer portion of employee benefits
Include
- contributions to provincial or territorial health and education payroll taxes applicable to this Head Office;
- employee life and extended health care insurance plans (e.g., medical, dental, drug and vision care plans);
- Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) contributions;
- employer pension contributions;
- workers’ compensation;
- employment insurance premiums;
- retiring allowances or lump sum payments to employees at time of termination or retirement;
- all other employee benefits such as childcare and supplementary unemployment benefit (SUB) plans.
3. Transportation, shipping (contracted out), warehousing, storage, postage and courier expenses
Include
- railway transport services of freight, letters and parcels;
- road transport services of freight, letters and parcels;
- moving services of household and office furniture and other goods;
- transport services via pipeline;
- air and maritime transport services of freight, letters or parcels;
- rental services of truck, vessels for coastal and transoceanic transport, inland water vessels or aircraft with operator;
- refrigerated storage services;
- bulk liquid or gas storage services;
- postage and courier services;
- rental and leasing of vehicles, machinery and equipment with driver or operator.
4. Telephone and other telecommunication expenses
Include
- telephone, fax, cellular phone, or pager services for transmission of voice, data or image;
- Internet access charges and purchased cable and satellite transmission of television, radio and music programs;
- wired, wireless and satellite telecommunication services;
- online access and information provision services.
Exclude
- rental and leasing of telecommunication equipment; please report these expenses in section C, question 5.
5. Rental and leasing expenses
Include
- rental of office space or other real estate;
- rental of motor vehicles (without driver);
- rental of computers and peripherals (without operator);
- rental of other machinery and equipment (without operator);
- rental and leasing of telecommunication equipment;
- rental or leasing services concerning other goods (e.g., video tape, televisions, furniture).
Exclude
- rental and leasing of vehicles, machinery and equipment with driver or operator; please report these expenses with the associated function (e.g., rental of motor vehicle with operator should be reported in section C, question 3).
6. Purchased repair and maintenance service expenses, including janitorial and cleaning services
Include
- materials, parts and labour;
- purchased repair and maintenance service expenses for buildings, structures and motor vehicles;
- purchased repair and maintenance service expenses for other goods (e.g., fabricated metal products or furniture repair services).
Exclude
- property management fees; please report these expenses in section C, question 14.
7. Payments to employment agencies or personnel suppliers
Include
- executive search services;
- employment agency services.
8. Purchased research and development expenses (contracted out)
Include
- research and development expenses in physical science, chemistry, biology, engineering, technology, agricultural sciences, medical sciences, pharmacy, sociology, psychology and economics.
9. All other professional and business services
Include
- any other professional and business service expense not included in another category.
10. Insurance premiums
Include
- life insurance;
- accident and health insurance services;
- motor vehicle, marine, aviation and other transport insurance services;
- freight insurance services;
- general liability insurance services;
- credit insurance services.
Exclude
- payments on behalf of employees which are considered to be taxable benefits; please report these expenses in section C, question 2.
11. Advertising and promotion expenses
Include
- planning, creating and placement services of advertising purchased from a third party;
- purchase of advertising space or time, on commission;
- trade show and exhibition expenses.
12. Travel, meal and entertainment expenses
Include
- passenger transportation, accommodation, meals while travelling, and other travel allowances;
event expenses.
13. Royalties and franchise fees
Include
- patents, trademarks and copyrights.
14. All other purchased service expenses not specified above
Exclude
- Interest expenses; please report these expenses in section C, question 21.
15. Office supply expenses
Include
- paper;
- photocopier, printer and fax machine supplies;
- CDs.
If not capitalized, also include only purchases of computers, printers, photocopiers, computer software and office furniture.
Exclude
- postage and courier expenses; please report these expenses in section C, question 3;
- telephone and other telecommunication expenses; please report these expenses in section C, question 4.
16. Supply expense linked to operation, repair and maintenance
Include
- parts and supplies for the operation, repair and maintenance of your equipment, vehicles and buildings;
- motor vehicle fuel expenses.
Exclude
- expenses that are covered in your rental and leasing expenses; please report these expenses in section C, question 5;
- expenses that are covered in your repair and maintenance service expenses; please report these expenses in section C, question 6.
17. All other materials, components and supply expenses
Include
- any other material, components and supply expense not included in another category.
18. Purchased energy and water utility expenses
Exclude
- motor vehicle fuel expenses; please report these expenses in section C, question 16;
- expenses that are covered in your rental and leasing expenses; please report these expenses in section C, question 5.
19. Amortization and depreciation
Amortization is the gradual writing off of capitalized costs and depreciation is the accounting process whereby the cost of capital assets is systematically allocated to current operations over the term of its useful life. This process recognizes the gradual exhaustion of the service capacity of the capital assets. 5-3600-123.3 Page 5 Reporting guide:
20. Property and business taxes, licences and other permits, including building permits and development charges
Include
- property taxes, except those covered in your rental and leasing expenses;
- property transfer taxes;
- large corporation capital taxes;
- vehicle licence fees;
- lot levies;
- lease fees to governments (e.g., stumpage fees);
- building permits and development charges.
23. All other expenses
Include
- bad debt expense;
- donations and inventory adjustments.
D - Employment at this head office
To calculate the average number of people employed, add the number of people employed in the last pay period of each month and divide this sum by the number of months in the reporting period (usually 12).
Exclude
- contract and subcontract workers who are not part of your payroll;
- company pensioners;
- persons working on a full commission basis for whom you are not making Canada Pension Fund (CPP) or Quebec Pension Fund (le Régime des rentes du Québec) or employment insurance (EI) contributions;
- outside directors of incorporated companies.
E - Events that may have affected your head office
In the space provided, please make note of any factors (e.g., strike, layoffs, weather) that affected your head office in comparison to last year. Your response reduces the likelihood of further inquiries seeking to understand significant changes from one year to the next in reported values.
F - Comments
Statistics Canada invites you to comment on any aspect of the survey. All comments are appreciated and reviewed.
Thank you!