Farm Accountancy Data Network for the forestry sector
The following headings on this page contain explanations of the background to the data collection for the Farm Accountancy Data Network:
Population and sample
The Forestry Board maintains records of all owners of at least 5 hectares of forest. These records make a distinction between public forest property, such as the forests owned by the State (for example, Staatsbosbeheer (State Forestry) and Domeinen (Service of Public Lands)), the provinces, water boards, municipalities, etc., and private forest property. The private owners of forests, including legal entities and institutions (except private nature-conservation organisations), are the target population for the Farm Accountancy Data Network for the forestry sector.
The data collection has started in 1975 among forestry holdings with a minimum forest area of 50 hectares. In 1989, the Farm Accountancy Data Network was expanded to include private forestry holdings with forest areas between 5 and 50 hectares.
In 1975, there were 2,000 private forestry holdings that owned 81,000 hectares of forest, equivalent to 38% of all Dutch forests. In 2002, the number of private forestry holdings had declined to about 1,500 holdings owning 59,000 hectares of forest.
The Forestry Board’s records are used to subdivide the target population according to surface area and region, whereby a distinction is made between five surface area categories and three regions (Central, North-eastern, and Southern). These fifteen groups form the so-called 'strata'. A number of sample holdings in each stratum are selected at random from the Forestry Board’s records. In analogy with fisheries, the panel is of virtually constant composition. This is of additional interest to the forestry holdings in view of the long production process and the restricted number of holdings in the larger surface area categories. On the termination of a holding’s operations (such as the sale of the forest to an owner who is not a member of the population), the holding is replaced by another private forestry holding in the region which owns a comparable surface area of forest. In adopting this approach, the Farm Accountancy Data Network remains a reliable cross-section of the population.
Data collection
Many forestry holdings are not confronted by the necessity of maintaining accounts, since the revenues and costs arising from the operation of forests are not liable to income tax. Nevertheless, an extremely high percentage of forestry owners approached by LEI are prepared to collaborate in the Farm Accountancy Data Network. However, since the owners are not obliged to maintain accounts for taxation reasons – and are often not accustomed to doing so – the data are only available in a restricted amount, less detailed, and in a limited form. This is in part the reason why the financial reports of forestry holdings are much less comprehensive than those of agricultural/horticultural holdings.
Some of the forestry holdings’ accounts are maintained by a limited number of major land agent’s offices. However, almost all forestry holdings are also visited by LEI staff once a year; in some instances these visits are made to collect all the relevant information, and in other instances to collect supplementary information. A fairly detailed costs and revenue form is completed during these visits. These forms constitute the basis for the holding’s income and expenditure account.
The participants receive a multi-annual summary of their income and expenditure accounts, referred to as the ‘participants’ reports.’
Principles and definitions
The most important company accounts are the income and expenditure accounts, i.e. the income statement (profit and loss accounts). These are compiled from the cost and revenue categories, thereby yielding the operating result. To ensure for the long-term ability to follow the operating results these accounts are not only published for all holdings (with more than 5 hectares of forest), but are also published for all holdings with more than 50 hectares of forest. In addition, supplementary data are used to draw up the income and revenue accounts by cost centre.
The relationship between both accounts (on the basis of cost categories and on the basis of cost centres) is always indicated diagrammatically in the annual report.
For a better comparability of the results, a number of ‘unpaid performances’ are calculated on a normative basis. For a number of reasons, the interest charges on the capital invested in land and standing timber are not entered as a cost item. However, the feasibility of including these cost items is currently studies.
Results: tables and key figures
The Farm Accountancy Data Network can be used to present a broad range of key figures. BINternet lists the various groups used in the classification, the totals, the surface area classes, and the regions. The tables and key figures contain information about the company organisation, the revenues, costs and operating results, often expressed as figures per hectare of forest.