The main themes addressed are :

• activity: business managers are asked about developments in the sector as a whole, as well as the demand addressed to them, the cash flow situation, the stock level or the factors limiting their activity;

• employment: business managers are asked about recent and upcoming staff numbers in their company. They are also asked about their recruitment difficulties and the barriers to hiring ;

• investment: business managers are asked about the development of their recent and future investments, the factors driving their decision to invest and the destination of the latter;

• prices ;

• market prices, the foreign competitive position, acquisitions and transport capacity ;

• the easiness to predict the future development of the business situation.

Most of the survey questions are qualitative and have three modalities. The results are presented in the form of opinion balances, corresponding to the differences between the percentage of "increasing" (+) and the percentage of "decreasing" (-) responses.

The survey covers almost all of the following sectors: accommodation and catering; information and communication; real estate activities; specialised, scientific and technical activities; administrative and support activities; other service activities; road goods haulage and courier services.

More precisely, the survey covers the sectors defined by the French Nomenclature of Activities (NAF Rev. 2) codes: 49.41, 52.29A, 53.2, 55.1, 55.2, 56.1, 56.21Z, 56.3, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 68 (except 68.32B), 69, 70 (except 70.10Z), 71, 73, 74, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81 (except 81.30Z), 82, 95, 96.

The composite business climate indicator describes the common component of the selected balances of opinion on past activity, forecast activity, judgement of order books, past work force and production capacity utilisation rate.

The turning point indicator aims to detect as early as possible when the outlook trend changes direction. This is a qualitative variable which is not directly observed. The indicator is presented in the form of a curve, retracing for each date the difference between the probability that the cyclical phase is favourable and the probability that is unfavourable.

The unit surveyed is the enterprise (legal unit or profiled enterprise).

Some data have been available since 1988.