Canadian Classification of Institutional Units and Sectors (CCIUS) 2012

S1 - Total economy

The total economy is defined as the entire set of resident institutional units. These resident institutional units are grouped into five mutually exclusive institutional sectors. Sectors are groupings of institutional units and the whole of each institutional unit is classified to only one sector of the SNA. The full sequence of accounts of the SNA may be constructed for a single institutional unit or a group of units. All resident institutional units are allocated to one and only one of the following five institutional sectors:
1. The Non-financial corporations sector;
2. The Financial corporations sector;
3. The General government sector;
4. The Households sector.
5. The Non-profit institutions serving households sector;
All resident non-financial corporations are included in the Non-financial corporations sector and in practice they account for most of the sector. In addition, the sector includes non-profit institutions (NPIs) engaged in the market production of goods and non-financial services: for example, hospitals, schools or colleges that charge fees that enable them to recover their current production costs, or trade associations financed by subscriptions from non-financial corporations or unincorporated enterprises whose role is to promote and serve the interests of those enterprises.
The Financial corporations sector includes all resident corporations whose principal activity is providing financial services including financial intermediation, insurance and pension fund services, and units that provide activities that facilitate financial intermediation. In addition, the sector includes NPIs engaged in market production of a financial nature such as those financed by subscriptions from financial enterprises whose role is to promote and serve the interests of those enterprises.
The General government sector consists mainly of federal, provincial and territorial, local, and Aboriginal government units together with social security funds imposed and controlled by those units. In addition, it includes NPIs engaged in non-market production that are controlled by government units or social security funds.
The Households sector consists of all resident households. These include institutional households made up of persons staying in hospitals, retirement homes, convents, prisons, etc. for long periods of time. As already noted, an unincorporated enterprise owned by a household is treated as an integral part of the latter and not as a separate institutional unit unless the accounts are sufficiently detailed to treat the activity as that of a quasi-corporation.
The Non-profit institutions serving households sector consists of all resident NPIs, except those controlled by government, that provide non-market goods or services to households or to the community at large.

S14 - Households

This sector consists of all resident households. For the purposes of the SNA, a household is defined as a group of persons who share the same living accommodation, who pool some or all of their income and wealth and who consume certain types of goods and services collectively, mainly housing and food. In general, each member of a household should have some claim upon the collective resources of the household. At least some decisions affecting consumption or other economic activities must be taken for the household as a whole. Households often coincide with families, but members of the same household do not necessarily have to belong to the same family so long as there is some sharing of resources and consumption.
Domestic staff that live on the same premises as their employer do not form part of their employer's household even though they may be provided with accommodation and meals as remuneration in kind. Paid domestic employees have no claim upon the collective resources of their employers' households and the accommodation and food they consume are not included with their employer's consumption. They should therefore be treated as belonging to households separate from those of their employers.
Persons living permanently in an institution, or who may be expected to reside in an institution for a very long or indefinite period of time are treated as belonging to a single institutional household when they have little or no autonomy of action or decision in economic matters. Some examples of persons belonging to institutional households are members of religious orders living in monasteries, convents or similar institutions; long-term patients in hospitals, including mental hospitals; prisoners serving long sentences; and persons living permanently in retirement homes.
On the other hand, persons who enter hospitals, clinics, convalescent homes, religious retreats, or similar institutions for short periods, who attend residential schools, colleges or universities, or who serve short prison sentences should be treated as members of the individual households to which they normally belong.
The residence of individual persons is determined by that of the household of which they form part and not by their place of work. All members of the same household have the same residence as the household itself, even though they may cross borders to work or otherwise spend periods of time abroad. If they work and reside abroad so long that they acquire a centre of economic interest abroad, they cease to be members of their original households.
Household unincorporated market enterprises are created for the purpose of producing goods or services for sale or barter on the market. They can be engaged in virtually any kind of productive activity: agriculture, mining, manufacturing, construction, retail distribution or the production of other kinds of services. They can range from single persons working as street traders or shoe cleaners with virtually no capital or premises of their own through to large manufacturing, construction or service enterprises with many employees.
Household unincorporated market enterprises also include unincorporated partnerships that are engaged in producing goods or services for sale or barter on the market. The partners may belong to different households. When the liability of the partners for the debts of the enterprises is unlimited, the partnerships must be treated as unincorporated enterprises and remain within the households sector since all the assets of the household, including the dwelling itself, are at risk if the enterprise goes bankrupt.
Using an income-based household sub sectoring method, households in the CSNA are grouped into subsectors according to the nature of their largest source of income or type of household income, as follows:
a. Income accruing to the owners of household unincorporated enterprises with paid employees (employers' mixed income);
b. Incomes accruing to the owners of householdunincorporated enterprises without paid employees (own-account workers' mixed income);
c. Compensation received from employment, referred to as Compensation of employees;
d. Property and transfer incomes.
The households are allocated to subsectors according to which of the four categories of income listed above is the largest for the household as a whole, even if it does not always account for more than half of total household income. When more than one income of a given category is received within the same household, for example, because more than one member of the household earns compensation of employees or because more than one property or transfer income is received, the classification should be based on the total household income within each category. Mixed income represents the surplus or deficit accruing from production by unincorporated enterprises owned by households; it implicitly contains an element of remuneration for work done by the owner, or other members of the household, that cannot be separately identified from the return to the owner as entrepreneur but it excludes the operating surplus coming from owner-occupied dwellings.
The four subsectors are Employers, Own-account workers, Employees, and Recipients of Property and transfer income. The fourth subsector, Recipients of property and transfer income, constitutes a heterogeneous group and therefore is further divided into three major groups. These are, Recipients of property incomes, Recipients of pensions, and Recipients of other transfer incomes.

S144 - Recipients of property and transfer incomes

This subsector consists of households whose property and transfer incomes make up the largest source of their income. It constitutes a heterogeneous group and is further divided into three major groups based on the type of income received, which are property incomes, pensions, and other transfers.

S1441 - Recipients of property incomes

This major group consists of households whose property incomes, consisting of income receivable from the ownership of financial assets or natural resources make up the largest source of their income. Property incomes cover investment income receivable by the owners of financial assets from either resident or non-resident units and rent receivable by owners of natural resources leased to other units.

S1442 - Recipients of pensions

This major group consists of households whose pensions make up the largest source of their income. Pensions are the main social benefit payable in cash for retirees. However, others may be entitled to pensions, for example widows and the permanently disabled. Pensions are almost always paid in cash though there may be some circumstances where housing is available free or at a reduced rate to some pensioners in which case the value of this housing benefit is treated as part of the cash payment with the same amount showing as a purchase of housing services from the provider.
In the CSMA, pension income includes social security programs, employer-based pension plans, and individual registered saving plans that are tax sheltered. Social security programs cover Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Quebec Pension Plan (QPP); as well as Old age security/Guaranteed income supplement (OAS/GIS). Employer-based plans often referred to as employer-sponsored plans represent a variety of arrangements in both the public and private sectors. These plans are established by either employers or unions or, in rare cases co-sponsored to provide employees with a regular income at retirement. Employer-based plans typically pool funds from employers and employees. Registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) is tax-sheltered up to an income-based limit and is on a voluntary basis.

S1443 - Recipients of other transfers

This major group consists of households whose largest source of income consists of other current transfers received for various reasons. They include other transfer income received from insurance related claims, as well as miscellaneous current transfers such as those received from non-resident households.