International Workshop on Economic Census,
Beijing, China, 26-29 July 2005
Constructing and Maintaining a
Business Register: Singapore’s
Experience
By Ong Lai Heng
Singapore Department of Statistics
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Outline
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Background
Overview of CEIS
Uses of CEIS
Coverage of Business Units
Types of Statistical Units
Definitions of Statistical Units
Use of Central Registration Number
Industrial Classification
Data Items in CEIS
Sources of Information
Main Sources of Updates
Quality Control
Legal Authority
Access to CEIS
Challenges and Plans
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Background of Business Register
in Singapore
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Developed and Maintained by the Singapore
Department of Statistics (SDOS).
First set up in 1986, known as the Establishment
Hub.
Re-developed in 1996 as the Commercial
Establishment Information System (CEIS).
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Overview of CEIS
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Database maintained by SDOS with data from
different data sources.
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Contains a wide range of basic information
pertaining to establishments in Singapore.
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Uses of CEIS
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Provides up-to-date and basic data on
establishments
Serves as a survey frame
Provides Statistical analyses, eg formation and
cessation rates, survival rates.
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Coverage of Business Units
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Companies
Businesses
Professional bodies
Representative offices of foreign companies
Government and quasi-government institutions
Non-commercial establishments eg societies, cooperatives
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Types of Statistical Units
Holding
Company
Enterprise
Business
Entity
Business
Entity
vs
Establishment
Division 1
Division 2
Location 1
Location 2
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Definitions of Statistical Units
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Enterprise: defined as a legal entity registered under
the Singapore Companies Act etc. It includes
branches of foreign companies.
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Establishment: defined as a business or organization
unit engaged in one activity and operating in a single
location:
 Multi-branch organization: Each branch at a different location
is a different establishment.
 Multi-activity organization: Units engaged in separate
activities constitute distinct establishments.
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Use of Central Registration
(CR) Number
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Conversion of ACRA No. to CR-No.
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The CR-Number is a unique reference number
assigned by the CEIS system to each
establishment comprises 11 alpha-numeric
characters and a check alphabet.
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Industrial Classification
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Classification of Industry based on Singapore
Standard Industrial Classification 2005 (SSIC
2005)
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SSIC 2005 adopts the basic framework of the
International Standard Industrial Classification
(ISIC) Revision 4.
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Industrial Classification (cont’d)
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The industrial classification code is provided by
the business when registering with ACRA.
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The industrial code is updated when new
information is made available from SOE and
other industry surveys.
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Data Items in CEIS
Key Establishment Particulars:
 Name
 Address
 Central Registration (CR) Number
 Industrial classification
 Registration date
 Commencement date
 Paid-up capital
 Person of authority
 Legal organization
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Data Items in CEIS (cont’d)
Types of Legal Organizations:
 Public listed Company
 Private Company
 Foreign Company (registered in Singapore)
 Sole Proprietorship
 Partnership
 Limited Liability Partnership
 Non-profit Organization
 Representative Office
 Statutory Boards / Government Institutions
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Sources of Information
Sources of Updates
External
Internal
CEIS
Sampling
and Data
Requests
Statistical
Reports
Subscribers
Online
Enquiry
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Sources of Information (cont’d)
SOE
Surveys
Various
Annual
Surveys
Internal
Admin
• ACRA
• IES
• ROS
• PA
• Others
Surveys
• EDB
• MAS
• Others
External
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Sources of Information (cont’d)
External Sources (Administrative)
Type of Establishment
Accounting & Corporate Regulatory
Authority (ACRA)
Companies, Businesses
Professional Associations (PA)
Professional bodies
International Enterprise Singapore
(IES)
Representative offices of foreign
companies
Government gazettes
Government and quasi-government
institutions
Registry of Societies (ROS)
Non-commercial establishments
e.g. societies, co-operatives
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Sources of Information (cont’d)
Internal Survey Sources:
 Survey of Establishments (SOE)
 Annual Surveys of Commerce
 Annual Surveys of Services
 Foreign Investment Surveys
 International Trade in Surveys
 Other Surveys
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Main Sources of Updates
ACRA:
 Primary source of updates
 Provides information on newly
registered/ceased companies and businesses
on a regular basis
 Frequency of Updates: Weekly
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Main Sources of Updates (cont’d)
Survey of Establishments (SOE):
 Regular mail survey of newly registered
companies & businesses for updates of:
 Mailing address
 Commencement date
 SSIC/business activity description
 estimated gross receipts
 employment
 screening questions on overseas investments,
international trade in services, electronic commerce
transactions.
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Quality Control
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To pre scan incoming ACRA data and survey
updates to detect possible errors eg out of bound
records etc.
Various surveys will also feedback ‘out-of-scope’
cases for further investigation.
Joint Staff Working Group: Meets on a regular
basis to discuss the industrial classification for
relatively more complex and significant units which
affects two or more surveys.
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Legal Authority
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The SOE and other short-term & annual surveys
conducted by SDOS under the Statistics Act.
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The Act also stipulated that the contents of
individual returns received would be kept
confidential and used only for statistical purposes,
i.e. provide only aggregated data.
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Access to CEIS
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No Public Access on Individual Records. Users
may obtain summary information on company
from ACRA at a fee.
Private sector requests for sample listing,
normally by Industry, can be provided at a fee.
The sample list includes: name, address and
business activity which are obtainable from
ACRA.
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Access to CEIS (cont’d)
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Available for subscription to only government
departments and statutory boards.
Only basic establishment information
obtainable from ACRA are available.
Individual establishment survey information
obtained under the Statistics Act are not
available to subscribers.
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Challenges and Plans
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Providing more up-to-date information of business
population, particularly for “live” cases whether
they are “active” or “dormant”.
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Exploring the use of administrative records eg tax
records to reduce respondent burden for statistical
aggregation purpose.
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