Companies are required to select an industry code that corresponds to their main business activity when they file their income tax return. This allows government bodies such as Statistics Canada to gather information about the economic performance of specific industries. This uniform method for classifying businesses also allows for communication and comparison of data between government bodies and countries.
Canada, the United States, and Mexico currently use the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) which replaced the older Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. Some US government departments still use the SIC system.
Many of our business databases can be searched by NAICS or SIC code to find information specific to a particular industry.
