The Problems Related to Statistical Accounting of the Dynamics of the Sector of Small and Mid-Sized Enterprises in Russia

Vera Barinova – Head of Laboratory for Corporate Strategies and Firm Behavior Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Head of Laboratory for Innovative Economy of the Gaidar Institute, Candidate of Economic Sciences. Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Stepan Zemtsov – Senior Research fellow of Laboratory for Corporate Strategies and Firm Behavior Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Senior Research fellow of Laboratory for Innovative Economy of the Gaidar Institute, Candidate of Geographical Sciences. Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Yulia Tsareva – Research fellow of Laboratory for Corporate Strategies and Firm Behavior Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

There are substantial differences in approaches by Russia’s various agencies to the evaluation of the number of people employed by small and mid-sized business entities. The data are collected annually by the Rosstat by means of random and blanket business surveys and the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation which maintains the Unified Register of Small and Mid-Sized Business Entities. According to the Register, in autumn 2017 over 5.7m small and mid-sized business entities (about 90% of individual entrepreneurs and micro business entities) operated in Russia and they created jobs for 19m people. It is noteworthy that commerce accounted for 42.7% of the total number of small and mid-sized business entities. According to the Rosstat, in 2016 the sector of small and mid-sized enterprises employed 19.9m people (about 27.5% of all those working in Russia), while sales volumes of small and mid-sized businesses amounted to about 31.8% of those of all the legal entities.

Key words: statistical accounting, small and mid-sized enterprises, micro business entities, individual entrepreneurs.