5-3600-138.3 STC/UES-425-75390
This guide is designed to assist you as you complete the 2011 Survey of Service Industries. If you need more information, please call the Statistics Canada Help Line at the number below.
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.The confidentiality provisions of the Statistics Act are not affected by either the Access to Information Act or any other legislation. Therefore, for example, the Canada Revenue Agency cannot access identifiable survey records from Statistics Canada.
Information from this survey will be used for statistical purposes only and will be published in aggregate form only.
Help Line: 1-800-972-9692
B - Main business activity
C - Reporting period information
D - Revenue
E - Expenses
F - Industry characteristics
G - Personnel
H - Sales by type of client
I - Sales by client location
J - International transactions
K - Provincial/territorial distribution
General information
Survey purpose
Data-sharing agreements
Record linkages
1. Please describe the nature of your business.
To ensure that you have received the appropriate questionnaire, you are asked to describe the nature of your business. The description should briefly state the main activities of your business unit.
2. Please check the one main activity which most accurately represents your main source of revenue.
Below is a description of each main activity.
Interior design services
Business units primarily engaged in planning, designing and administering of projects in interior spaces to meet the physical and aesthetic needs of people, taking into consideration building codes, health and safety regulations, traffic patterns and floor planning, mechanical and electrical needs, and interior fittings and furniture.
Exclude:
Industrial design services
Business units primarily engaged in creating and developing designs and specifications that optimize the function, value and appearance of products.
Include:
Exclude:
Graphic design services
Business units primarily engaged in planning, designing and managing the production of visual communication, so as to convey specific messages or concepts, clarify complex information or project visual identities.
Include:
Exclude:
Other specialized design services
Business units not classified to any other industry, primarily engaged in providing professional design services.
Include specialized design services for:
Exclude:
If none of the above activities describes your main source of revenue, please call 1-800‑972‑9692 for further instructions.
Please report information for your fiscal year (normal business year) ending between April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012. Please indicate the reporting period covered by this questionnaire.
A detailed breakdown may be requested in other sections.
1. Sales of goods and services (e.g., rental and leasing income, commissions, fees, admissions, services revenue) Report net of returns and allowances.
Sales of goods and services are defined as amounts derived from the sale of goods 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:
Exclude:
2. Grants, subsidies, donations and fundraising
Please report contributions received during the reporting period.
Include:
3. Royalties, rights, licensing and franchise fees
A royalty is defined as a payment received by the holder of a copyright, trademark or patent.
Please include revenue received from the sale or use of all intellectual property rights of copyrighted musical, literary, artistic or dramatic works, sound recordings or the broadcasting of communication signals.
4. Investment income (dividends and interest)
Investment income is defined as the portion of a company’s income derived from its investments, including dividends and interest on stocks and bonds.
Include interest from:
Exclude:
5. Other revenue (please specify)
Include:
6. Total revenue
The sum of questions 1 to 5.
1. Salaries and wages of employees who have been issued a T4 statement
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:
Exclude:
2. Employer portion of employee benefits
Include contributions to:
3. Commissions paid to non-employees
Please report commission payments to outside workers without a T4 – Statement of Remuneration Paid.
Include:
4. Professional and business services fees
Include:
5. Subcontract expenses (include contract labour, contract work and custom work)
Subcontract expense refers to the purchasing of services from outside of the company rather than providing them in-house.
Include:
6. Charges for services provided by your head office
Include:
7. Cost of goods sold, if applicable (purchases plus opening inventory minus closing inventory)
Report cost of purchased goods that were resold during the reporting period. If applicable, report cost of goods and material used in manufacturing of sold products.
Include:
Exclude:
8. Office supplies
Include:
Exclude:
9. Rental and leasing (include rental of premises, equipment, motor vehicles, etc.)
Include:
10. Repair and maintenance (e.g., property, equipment, vehicles)
Include expenses for the repair and maintenance of:
Also include janitorial and cleaning services and garbage removal.
11. Insurance (include professional liability, motor vehicles, etc.)
Include:
Insurance recovery income should be deducted from insurance expenses.
12. Advertising, marketing and promotions (report charitable donations at question 22)
Include:
13. Travel, meals and entertainment
Include:
14. Utilities and telecommunications expenses (include gas, heating, hydro, water, telephone and Internet expenses)
Include:
Exclude:
15. Property and business taxes, licences and permits
Include:
16. Royalties, rights, licensing and franchise fees
Include:
17. Delivery, warehousing, postage and courier
Include:
18. Financial service fees
Include:
Exclude:
19. Interest expenses
Please report the cost of servicing your company’s debt.
Include interest on:
20. Amortization and depreciation of tangible and intangible assets
Include:
21. Bad debts
A bad debt is the portion of receivables deemed uncollectible, typically from accounts receivable or loans.
Include:
Bad debt recoveries are to be netted from bad debt expenses.
22. All other expenses (please specify)
Include:
23. Total expenses
The sum of questions 1 to 22.
24. Corporate taxes, if applicable
Include:
25. Gains (losses) and other items
Include:
26. Net profit/loss after tax and other items
Total revenue less Total expenses minus Corporate taxes plus Gains (losses) and other items.
Interior design services
1. Interior design services, including construction management
Interior design services, in which the contract includes the management by the designer, of the construction process to put into place the design. Includes programming, conceptual design development (i.e., schematics), design development, specification of necessary items and components, preparation of construction documents and contract administration. Includes interior design services related to the restoration or renovation of historic buildings.
a) Residential interior design services, except historical restoration
Interior design services for residential buildings, in which the contract includes the management by the designer, of the construction process to put into place the design. Includes programming, conceptual design development (i.e., schematics), design development, specification of necessary items and components, preparation of construction documents and contract administration.
Exclude:
b) Non-residential interior design services, except historical restoration
Interior design services for non-residential buildings, in which the contract includes the management by the designer, of the construction process to put into place the design. Includes programming, conceptual design development (i.e., schematics), design development, specification of necessary items and components, preparation of construction documents and contract administration.
Exclude:
c) Historic building interior design services, including historical restoration
Interior design services for buildings in which the historic character of the building must be taken into account. Includes services related to restorations, and to changes in use.
Exclude:
2. Interior design services, not including construction management
Interior design services, in which the contract does not include any construction management services.
Include:
3. Interior decorating services
Providing aesthetic services associated with interior spaces.
Industrial design services
4. Product industrial design services
Design services that optimize the manufacturing efficiency, functionality and appearance of products.
Include:
Exclude:
5. Model design and manufacturing services
Design and manufacturing services for models of new product concepts; models can be full or reduced-scale.
Graphic design services
6. Corporate identity and communications graphic design services
Designing the corporate identity and image, internal communications, and external communications.
Include:
Exclude:
7. Advertising graphic design services
Designing the visual appearance of an advertisement or advertising campaign.
Include:
Exclude:
8. Commercial illustration services
Provision of illustrations for use in graphic design projects.
9. Graphic interface and interaction design services
The design of software interfaces, except those related to website design.
Include:
10. Book, magazine and newspaper graphic design services
Graphic design of books, magazines and newspapers, including their covers and interior layout, and selection of typefaces.
11. Broadcast and motion picture graphic design services
Design graphics for motion picture and television use, such as titles, opening and closing montages, bumpers, transitions and interstitials, blue/green screen removal and animations.
12. All other graphic design services
Include:
Fashion, jewellery, footwear and other design services
13. Clothing, shoe, textile, jewellery, and other specialized design services not elsewhere classified
Other design services including clothing, footwear, jewellery, parade floats, textiles, and patterns to be used in the manufacture of individual components of clothing and footwear.
Related services and products
14. Website design and development services
Include:
15. Consulting services
Providing advice and guidance about specialized design issues.
16. Printing services
Printing copies of images and documents for others, for a fee.
17. Drafting services
Producing detailed layouts, plans, drawings, illustrations, graphics or models based on engineering or architectural specifications, for use in the design, manufacture, installation, construction, repair or maintenance of buildings, structures, systems or components.
18. Sales of merchandise purchased for resale as is
Retail or wholesale sales of merchandise.
19. All other sales (please specify)
Include:
20. Total sales
The sum of questions 1 to 19.
To fully measure the contribution of all human capital in this industry, we require information on the number of partners and proprietors as well as the number and classification of workers.
1. Number of partners and proprietors, non-salaried (if salaried, report at question 2 below)
For unincorporated businesses, please report the number of partners and proprietors for whom earnings will be the net income of the partnership or proprietorship.
2. Paid employees
a) Average number of paid employees during the reporting period
To calculate the average number employed, add the number of employees in the last pay period of each month of the reporting period and divide this sum by the number of months (usually 12).
Exclude:
b) Percentage of paid employees (from question 2a) who worked full time
Full-time employment consists of persons who usually work 30 hours or more per week. Please specify the percentage of paid employees who have been working full time by rounding the percentage to the nearest whole number.
3. Number of contract workers for whom you did not issue a T4, such as freelancers and casual workers (estimates are acceptable)
Contract workers are not employees, but workers contracted to perform a specific task or project in your organization for a specific duration, such as self-employed persons, freelancers and casual workers. These workers are not issued a T4 information slip. Please report the number of contract workers employed by your organization during the fiscal year.
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.
1. Clients in Canada
a) Businesses
Percentage of sales sold to the business sector should be reported here.
Include:
b) Individuals and households
Please report the percentage of sales to individuals and households who do not represent the business or government sector.
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:
2. Clients outside Canada
Please report the share of total sales to customers or clients located outside Canada including foreign businesses, foreign individuals, foreign institutions and/or governments.
Include:
Please provide a percentage breakdown of your total sales by client location (first point of sale).
Please ensure that the sum of percentages reported in this section equals 100%.
The percentage in question 14 must equal question 2 in section H.
This section is intended to measure the value of international transactions on goods, services, and royalties and licences fees. It covers imported services and goods purchased outside Canada as well as the value of exported services and goods to clients/customers outside Canada. Please report also royalties, rights, licensing and franchise fees paid to and/or received from outside Canada. Services cover a variety of industrial, professional, trade and business services.
This section is intended to collect information on the locations operated by your business during the reporting period.
Please report the number of business units or locations operating in Canada during the reporting period. Business unit is defined as the lowest level of the firm for which accounting records are maintained for such details as revenue, expenses and employment.
Please report data for the provinces or territories in which you have business units and indicate if you are reporting in Canadian dollars or percentages.
Statistics Canada conducts this survey to obtain detailed and accurate data on this industry, which is recognised as being an important contributor to the Canadian economy. Your responses are critically important to produce reliable statistics used by businesses, non-profit organizations and all levels of government to make informed decisions in many areas.
The information from this survey can be used by your business to benchmark your performance against an industry standard, to plan marketing strategies or to prepare business plans for investors. Governments use the data to develop national and regional economic policies and to develop programs to promote domestic and international competitiveness. The data are also used by trade associations, business analysts and investors to study the economic performance and characteristics of your industry.
To reduce respondent burden, Statistics Canada has entered into data-sharing agreements with provincial and territorial statistical agencies and other government organizations, which must keep the data confidential and use them only for statistical purposes. Statistics Canada will only share data from this survey with those organizations that have demonstrated a requirement to use the data.
Section 11 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with provincial and territorial statistical agencies that meet certain conditions. These agencies must have the legislative authority to collect the same information, on a mandatory basis, and the legislation must provide substantially the same provisions for confidentiality and penalties for disclosure of confidential information as the Statistics Act. Because these agencies have the legal authority to compel businesses to provide the same information, consent is not requested and businesses may not object to the sharing of the data.
For this survey, there are Section 11 agreements with the provincial and territorial statistical agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon.
The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province or territory.
Section 12 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with federal, provincial or territorial government organizations. Under Section 12, you may refuse to share your information with any of these organizations by writing a letter of objection to the Chief Statistician and returning it with the completed questionnaire. Please specify the organizations with which you do not want to share your data.
For this survey, there are Section 12 agreements with the statistical agencies of Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
For agreements with provincial and territorial government organizations, the shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province or territory.
To enhance the data from this survey, Statistics Canada may combine it with information from other surveys or from administrative sources.
Please note that Statistics Canada does not share any individual survey information with the Canada Revenue Agency.
Please visit our website at www.statcan.gc.ca/survey-enquete/index-eng.htm or call us at 1-800-972-9692 for more information about these data-sharing agreements.
Thank you!