Partial Changes to the “Planned Revisions of the Tankan”
March 4, 2019
Research and Statistics Department
Bank of JapanAs announced in the “Planned Revisions of the Tankan” in December 2016, the Bank ofJapan plans to introduce a new survey category for overseas business activities around2020. The Bank is currently preparing for the implementation of the planned revisions.
The Bank has decided to partially change the planned revisions presented in the“Introduction of New Category regarding Overseas Business Activities” (from page 4 to 5of the “Planned Revisions of the Tankan”), as below.
Before the change

After the change

Sales
New survey
Overseas Sales
items (on aCurrent Profits
consolidated
Fixed Investment
basis)
Overseas Fixed Investment
Calculation
methodReleaseitems

Unchanged

Simple aggregation

Estimation of population total(1) Year-on-year rates of(1) Year-on-year rates ofchanges of each figure(2) Shares of overseas amounts
in total amounts for sales andfixed investmentchanges of each figure(2) Shares of overseas amounts
in total amounts for sales andfixed investment(3) Aggregated amounts of eachfigure

This decision was made because the population data needed to implement the sample
design could be built through the Establishment Frame Database of the Ministry ofInternal Affairs and Communications and the financial statements of enterprises.
This allows the Bank to publish aggregated amounts for each figure as estimates of thepopulation total, as requested by some users during public consultation.

1

The population of the new survey category regarding overseas business activities will
be parent companies, with capital of 1 billion yen or more, at the top of a consolidated
business group 1 and with sales to overseas external customers or overseas
subsidiaries/branches. The sample design uses “stratified sampling,” in the same way as
the Tankan. Specifically, the population is divided into homogeneous groups (strata)
using industry and sales on a consolidated basis in order to select sample enterprises.
The new category surveys consolidated figures and the estimate of the population total
is obtained by aggregating the population total in each stratum.2

Inquiries
Business Survey Group, Economic Statistics Division, Research and Statistics
Department
E-mail: post.rsd5@boj.or.jp

1

Specifically, the survey population will be enterprises, of which sales to overseas externalcustomers or overseas subsidiaries/branches are confirmed, based on sources such as theEstablishment Frame Database and segmental information of financial statements.
It should be noted that overseas business activities of unconsolidated related companies cannot beconfirmed using the above procedure, and therefore business groups with unconsolidated relatedcompanies, which are their only related companies with overseas business activities, are notincluded in the survey population in principle.
2
It is also worth noting that the new survey category does not comprehensively capture “overseasbusiness activities” due to technical limitations, as sales and investments on a consolidated basis do
not reflect overseas business activities of associates accounted for using, for example, the equity
method.

2