Solid data on narrow Canadian industries: SME Benchmarking Tool now has 2010 data

<Picture your Business Librarian doing a happy dance right about now...>

I noticed today that Industry Canada's SME Benchmarking Tool has been updated.  It now features 2010 data from a sample of Revenue Canada tax filings.

I'll paste below the description of this tool from Industry Canada, but first a few words to explain why I'm so excited:

Consider how it can sometimes be hard to get data on Canadian industries and companies. Then throw in the fact that it's even harder to get data on very narrowly defined industries (e.g., "Child Day-Care Centres"). Then add in a need for data on private companies that may have as little as $30.000 in revenue. And how about asking for the data to be from a solid source that doesn't involve lots of wild estimates?

Yes, this resource can handle all that.  You're doing the happy dance now, too, aren't you? :-)

From Industry Canada:

SME Benchmarking Tool provides access to more than 600 industries across Canada, including more than 30 performance benchmarks to help small businesses determine how they measure up to their competitors.

Reports feature the number of businesses in the selected industry, statistics for profitable and non-profitable small and medium-sized businesses that includes net profits and net losses, and detailed financial data on revenues and expenses.

SME Benchmarking Tool also highlights the industry's averages for income statements and balance sheet items, financial ratios, and the revenue range of its employees. Reports are marked with quality indicators that measure of the amount of imputation contributing towards a given value.

The generated reports are representative of all businesses operating within the specified industry and geographic area and earning between $30 thousand and $5 million in total annual revenues for the reference year.

This tool is based on the Small Business Profiles (SBP), which are created by Statistics Canada using a sample of Revenue Canada tax returns (T1, T2) for both incorporated and unincorporated businesses operating in Canada.

The Small Business Profiles are created using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for 2007.