Accounts for private kindergartens

Name: Accounts for private kindergartens

Topic: Education

Division for Education and Culture Statistics

Published at county level.

The statistics are published annually. The data basis is the fiscal year, with publication typically in November of the following year.

Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing.

Statistics Norway can grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymised microdata) on which the statistics are based, for researchers and public authorities for the purposes of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access can be granted upon application and subject to conditions. Refer to the details about this at Access to data from Statistics Norway.

The account statistics for private kindergartens present detailed information about the activities on the basis of financial information. The statistics provide important and necessary knowledge about the subsidies transferred to kindergartens from the government and municipalities, and information about how these resources are used.

The statistics were first published for the fiscal year 1992 on the request of the Ministry of Children and Family (Barne- og familiedepartementet, BFD). Since then, this has been an annual task, initially commissioned by BFD. However, starting from the fiscal year 2005, the Ministry of Education and Research (Kunnskapsdepartementet, KD) became the principal, and from 2012 onwards, the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (Utdanningsdirektoratet) took over as the principal authority.

Starting from the fiscal year 2002, data were collected using a new form, "Annual Financial Statements for Non-Municipal Kindergartens." For the fiscal year 2007, electronic reporting through Utdanningsdirektoratet's database BASIL was introduced. From the reporting year 2013, the form was renamed to "Income Statement for Non-Municipal Kindergartens."

Starting from the fiscal year 2023, significant changes have been made to the questionnaire as a result of changes in the Kindergartens Act and financial regulations. Kindergartens have different requirements for accounting and reporting as a result of financial regulations to the Kindergartens Act. Around 160 private kindergartens have been approved for a deviating financial year in 2023.

The questionnaire harmonizes to a large extent with NS4102 (Norwegian standard chart of accounts). Kindergartens that have an obligation to be a legal entity must complete balance sheet accounts. Kindergartens that are required to be an independent legal entity according to Section 7a first paragraph of the Kindergartens Act, must have their annual accounts audited by a state-authorised auditor. The reporting must be certified by a state-authorised auditor.

Kindergartens that are covered by one of the exceptions in the Kindergartens Act § 7a, third paragraph, must have their profit and loss accounts audited by a state-authorised auditor. Some kindergartens can, instead of an auditor, choose an independent accountant to certify the profit and loss account. This applies to ordinary kindergartens with a total of fewer than 20 children, to family kindergartens with a total of fewer than 10 children, or open kindergartens.

Sole proprietorships (ENK), limited liability companies with personal liability (ANS) and limited liability companies with shared liability (DA) must not report on the disposition of annual profit as of fiscal year 2023.

The changes affect comparability with previous years.

The main users, in addition to the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (Utdanningsdirektoratet) and the Ministry of Education and Research (Kunnskapsdepartementet), include other public administrations (municipalities and state administrations), research and policy institutions, certain private enterprises, interest groups, and the media.

No external users have access to statistics before they are released at 8 a.m. on ssb.no after at least three months’ advance notice in the release calendar. This is one of the most important principles in Statistics Norway for ensuring the equal treatment of users.

The account statistics for private kindergartens are related to other statistics in Statistics Norway, such as Children in kindergartens, Households payments in kindergartens and Employees in kindergartens and schools.

In addition, the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (Utdanningsdirektoratet) also publishes statistics in the field of kindergartens.

The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).

The statistics are part of the national program for official statistics 2021-2023.

Main area Education, sub-area Kindergarten.

The statistics encompass all approved private kindergartens (industry code 88.911 in SN2007, from 2025 the industry code is 85.100 - see the standard for industrial classification) that have been in operation throughout the relevant fiscal year. In addition, private kindergartens must have submitted an annual report for kindergartens by December 15 of the relevant fiscal year. The population includes private regular kindergartens, private family kindergartens, and private combined regular/family kindergartens. Private open kindergartens are not part of the population.

Reporting forms are sent to all non-municipal kindergartens at the kindergarten level (business level) and are approved by the municipality. The statistics only cover the operational accounts of the kindergartens. Non-municipal kindergartens must complete the income statement form regardless of the accounting requirements to which the kindergarten is otherwise subject to. Kindergartens operated as businesses without accounting obligations, and those that use standard deductions rather than documented expenses for tax purposes, are not exempt from submitting the income statement form.

The term "non-municipal kindergartens" includes all state and county kindergartens as well as private kindergartens. The statistics only include private kindergartens.

The data source is the form "Income Statement for Non-Municipal Kindergartens." Information from the "Annual Report for Kindergartens as of December 15" is linked to the data basis and used in the publication. All approved kindergartens must submit the annual report form, and all non-municipal kindergartens must submit the income statement form. As of september 2024 the reporting take place on a new data platform.

Data is collected from BASIL (BArnehage-Statistikk-InnrapporteringsLøsning) at the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (Utdanningsdirektoratet). Kindergartens report to BASIL, and each individual kindergarten fills out the electronic form. Several checks are performed during registration. These checks include logic in the completion of the form, and the identification of summation errors. The form is approved by an auditor and by the municipality. The data collection period is from August to October.

Editing is defined here as checking, examining and amending data.

Employees of Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality.

Statistics Norway does not publish figures if there is a risk of the respondent’s contribution being identified. This means that, as a general rule, figures are not published if fewer than three units form the basis of a cell in a table or if the contribution of one or two respondents constitutes a very large part of the cell total.

Statistics Norway can make exceptions to the general rule if deemed necessary to meet the requirements of the EEA agreement, if the respondent is a public authority, if the respondent has consented to this, or when the information disclosed is openly accessible to the public.

More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.

The numbers of kindergartens included in the statistics vary from year to year. The purpose of the statistics is to provide information about the costs and revenues in private kindergartens, and therefore, it cannot be used to determine the total number of private kindergartens.

The number of private regular and family kindergartens is available in the regular kindergarten statistics. After the introduction of a new reporting form in 2002, there was a break in the time series. Electronic reporting was introduced in 2007. Starting from the fiscal year 2023 major changes have been done to the questionnaire as a result of changes in the legal act.

In 2003, the municipalities of Råde, Frogn, Lillehammer, Nore og Uvdal, Tønsberg, Søgne, Stavanger, Randaberg, Orkdal, Flakstad, Nordreisa, and Alta were among the 20 municipalities that participated in the pilot program for the allocation of earmarked grants as block grants. The kindergartens in these municipalities did not receive state operating grants but received grants from the municipality's budget. Therefore, the kindergartens in these municipalities were separated from the county-level statistics. In 2004, the block grant pilot program was concluded, and the kindergartens in these municipalities were included in the county-level statistics from that year.

The calculation of costs changed when publishing data for the fiscal year 2021.

Starting from 2015, the number of children aged 0-2 years is weighted by a factor of 2, while children aged 3-6 years are not weighted.

Starting from the fiscal year 2023, significant changes have been made to the form as a result of changes in the Kindergartens Act and financial regulations. Kindergartens have different requirements for accounting and reporting as a result of financial regulations to the Kindergartens Act. Around 160 private kindergartens have been approved for a deviating financial year in 2023.

The accounting entries in the questionnaire harmonize to a large extent with NS4102 (Norwegian standard chart of accounts). Kindergartens that have an obligation to be a legal entity must complete balance sheet accounts. Kindergartens that are required to be an independent legal entity according to Section 7a first paragraph of the Kindergartens Act must have their annual accounts audited by a state-authorised auditor. The reporting must be certified by a state-authorised auditor.
Kindergartens that are covered by one of the exceptions in the Kindergartens Act § 7a, third paragraph, must have their profit and loss accounts audited by a state-authorised auditor. Some kindergartens can, instead of an auditor, choose an independent accountant to certify the profit and loss account. This applies to ordinary kindergartens with a total of fewer than 20 children, and family kindergartens with a total of fewer than 10 children, or open kindergartens.

Sole proprietorships (ENK), limited liability companies with personal liability (ANS) and limited liability companies with shared liability (DA) must not report on the disposition of annual profit as of fiscal year 2023.

The changes affect comparability with previous years.

The information is collected electronically through the "Income Statement for Private Kindergartens" form, via BASIL (BArnehage-Statistikk-InnrapporteringsLøsning), which is available on the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training's website. As of september 2024 the reporting takes place on a new data platform. Errors can occur during the completion of the forms at the kindergartens and during checks by municipalities. Most of these errors are identified and corrected through automated checks.

The published statistics should only encompass private kindergartens that have been in operation for the entire fiscal year. Kindergartens that have opened or closed during the year, and have not reported such changes, might erroneously be included in the statistical basis.

Even though the forms are sent to all kindergartens, not all of them report within the deadlines set by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training and Statistics Norway (SSB) for statistical production. These kindergartens are, therefore, excluded from the statistical basis.

The statistical basis is linked to data reported in the regular kindergarten statistics. Any errors in this data will therefore carry over into the financial statistics.

The income statement form is sent to all non-municipal kindergartens in Norway. The response rate is typically well above 90 percent, ensuring that the statistics are representative.

A revision is a planned change to figures that have already been published, for example when releasing final figures as a follow-up to published preliminary figures. See also Statistics Norway’s principles for revisions.