Comparability

Comparability - geographical

Bankruptcy statistics at our neighbour: Netherland Norway Sweden Germany Finland

Comparability over time

There can be different time of references for the statistics on declared bankruptcies and the information on turn-over and employment.

Changes in method

In 2009, the production of the statistics was changed from a 'simple count' method to a registry-based method. The change in method affects comparability over time in several ways:

a) with the registry-based method, personal bankruptcies are no longer included. The number of personal bankruptcies vs. the number of business bankruptcies in the period prior to 2009 is unknown.

b) with the registry-based method, there will be more occurrences of 'activity not stated' as there will no longer be a manual classification of companies with this code in the registry (correspondingly, there will be fewer occurrences in the group 'Financial and insurance', as especially many holding companies are registered with 'activity not stated')

c) with the registry-based method, bankruptcies that are announced more than once in the Danish Official Gazette (Statstidende) are counted only once - bankruptcies that are cancelled within the same month as their announcement will also be excluded.

d) the new variables concerning company age, turn-over and employment are based on the registry-based method and can therefore not be calculated prior to 2009.

Data for January-December 2009 are produced and published by both methods. There are approx. 3,6 pct. more bankruptcies with the simple count method in 2009 than with the registry-based method. There will be a change in the methods from the publication for September 2010. Up to September 2010, data for the companies gone bankrupt, stem from the Statistical Business Registry. Their original source is the statistics 'Indicator for employees in employment' (the socalled ATP statistics). Now data will be based on the socalled eIncome-system, where '0' from respondents are treated in another way than before. Data from the new eIncome-system will place more bankruptcies in the group 'non registered employment'. This will not influence on the total number of bankruptcies.

Changes in industrial classification. For the grouping by industry, there have been changes in the industrial classification nomenclature affecting comparability. For the period 1979 to 1992 the industrial classification nomenclature DSE 77 was used. For the period 1993 to 2008, the industrial classification was according to DB93 (Danish Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities) and its revision DB03. DB93 and DB03 are identical at the level of aggregation used in the statistics. Beginning in 2009, DB07, the Danish Industrial Classification based on NACE Rev. 2., is used. Data for the period 2005-2008 have been recoded to be available in DB07 groups.

Changes in geographical divisions. From 2007 onwards it is possible to obtain statistics broken down by region. Prior to 2007, the statistics is available broken down by 'province'.

The figures on petitions for liquidations are fully comparable over time.

Coherence - cross domain

There is not necessarily coherence between the statistics of declared bankruptcies and statistics on the population of companies, even if there often are inquiries on the number of companies that potentially could went bankrupt.

This is among other things due to the definition of companies used in the population calculations where a company must meet demands on employment and turn-over - an activity demand. An example is the 'General enterprise statistics'. These demands are not used in the statistics of bankruptcies where we often see companies without employment or very low turn-over.

Another problem is the difference in the reference period where for example the 'General enterprise statistics' is annual and the statistics on bankruptcies is monthly.

There is more information on the concept of 'active companies' in the quality declaration for 'General enterprise statistics'.

The statistics on bankruptcies for the period up to 2008 inclusive cover personal as well as company bankruptcies and since then only company bankruptcies.

Coherence with other statistics is not relevant for petitions for liquidations .

Coherence - internal

There can be different time of references for the statistics on bankruptcies and the information on turn-over and employment.

Time of reference is not relevant for petitions for liquidations.