3.1. Employer Characteristics File (ECF)
3.1.1. Overview
This file family contains industry, employment size, geography, and ownership of employers. The primary source of characteristics is the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). Establishment addresses have been geocoded to assign geographic regions. National firm age and size information are largely sourced from the Census Bureau Longitudinal Business Database (these require IRS approval).
The ECF file family includes the following files:
ECF_ST_SEINUNIT
An establishment level file with industry, size, location, and ownership.
Scope: State
Key: SEIN YEAR QUARTER SEINUNIT
ECF_ST_SEIN
Sourced from the SEINUNIT file, this file provides SEIN-level modal characteristics across establishments. Reference employment counts from UI wage data are also included, as available.
Scope: State
Key: SEIN YEAR QUARTER
ECF_ST_T26:
This table contains the national firm age and size for employers in the ECF. This file requires IRS approval.
Scope: State
Key: SEIN YEAR QUARTER
3.1.2. User Guidance
Identifiers: Employers vs. Firms vs. Establishments
QCEW data are reported at the establishment (SEINUNIT) level, regardless of state. However, UI wage records in nearly all states are reported at the state tax identifier level (SEIN), and users often wish to conduct analyses at an employer or firm level. We typically refer to SEINs as employers in this document, but users should be aware they are fundamentally a tax entity and distinct from an establishment or a firm, as described below:
For single-unit firms the SEIN is the firm and the establishment. These employ about half of workers.
For multi-unit firms the SEIN is sometimes a firm and sometimes a subset of firm activity. Firms will have multiple SEINs if the firm has employment across multiple states, but can also have mutiple SEINs within a state.
Multi-unit SEINs indicate the firm has multiple establishments within a state. It is most common that establishments within a SEIN operate in the same industry, but there are exceptions.
Information on the parent firm is available via links to IRS information on firm ownership, obtained from the Longitudinal Business Database (LBD) [Chow et al., 2021] . These parent firm identifiers, as well as parent firm age and size characteristics, may be obtained by linking to the Title 26 ECF file.
The ECF SEINUNIT file contains establishment-level information that is primarily provided directly from QCEW. In contrast, the ECF SEIN file contains information about the modal characteristics at the tax identifier (SEIN) level, which is constructed from the establishment-level records. If your project makes use of the LEHD’s job-level files, then you are able to link these ECF files directly to the EHF, JHF, or QWI to incorporate establishment or employer-level information. However, depending on your use case, you may wish to construct additional linkages at a level that corresponds with the LBD definition of a firm. Any such linkages require the use of the ECF T26 file, and will therefore require IRS approval.
For further details on the firm-level age and size variable construction, see below.
Establishment Geocoding
Geography is provided on the QCEW inputs in several different fields:
Physical address of establishment
Mailing address for establishment
County of establishment
The physical address is the preferred source to assign geographic information in the ECF, followed by the mailing address. Both of these addresses are geocoded in the GAL process (Geocoded Address List) to assign a Census block from the most recent Decennial tabulation. The geocoding of each address is given a quality code, 1-4 for physical and 5-8 for mailing. These can be thought of as general reductions in precision, where a code of 1 or 5 may mean that the address was placed in a Census block, and 4 or 8 may mean that only the zip code could be used, so the geocodeed block is not considered a precise location assignment. Mailing addresses are considered inferior to the physical address, since they are not always the actual place of work. When both of these assignments fail or data are missing, a fixed block is selected for the reported county with a geographic quality flag of 9.
After the initial assignment of the Census block, a series of longitudinal edits is performed to improve consistency over time, typically using higher quality information in preference to lower quality information in other quarters. Establishments are allowed to “move,” but it can be difficult to determine whether those moves are a true relocation or simply an artifact of changes in addressing practices. Note, unusually high rates of flux in geographic assignments have been noted in certain state-quarters.
If no establishment geography is available after these edits, a county is imputed for the establishment conditional on industry, using observed statewide data for a posterior. These records are given a geo quality flag of 10.
Tabulation vs. Current Geography
The GEOID_YYYY variable is a 15-character key that references a Census block defined in the latest decennial Census. This is referred to as the tabulation geography. However, regional boundaries and defintions evolve over time, so the codes baked into the GEOID are not necessarily the latest available. The ECF provides a set of regions in current geography that are valid at the time the ECF is produced.
For multi-establishment employers, employment-weighted modal regions are provided at the SEIN level. These regions are not necessarily consistent with each other. For example, though CBSAs (Core-Based Statistical Areas) are composed of counties, the modal county for a firm may not be a component of the modal CBSA, etc.
Industry Assignment
Industry is reported at the establishment level using SIC codes in earlier years of data and various iterations of NAICS codes up to the present. The reported codes are run through a transition algorithm to provide industries in all other coding systems, SIC (1987) and NAICS (1997-2022). The basic steps of the algorithm are as follows:
Identify the most likely coding system used to assign the industry to establishments. This is done with a comparison of reported codes to valid codes in each reporting system.
Retrieve industry tables provided at https://www.census.gov/naics/ to establish concordances between industry coding systems.
Use observed coding changes on establishment data in consecutive quarters to calculate the shares of establishments that get recoded based on the expected concordances. This forms a posterior for imputation.
Perform a combination of longitudinal edits and imputation to generate an industry assignment in all coding systems.
If an industry before and after a coding system transition is consistent with a pairing on the concordance tables, longitudinal edits are applied to maintain industry codes.
Other industry code changes are considered a change in the primary activity of the establishment. Longitudinal edits are not applied across these changes.
Industry codes are cast into each earlier and subsequent taxonomy as needed by using the posterior calculated from observed transition.
Imputation using a statewide posterior is employed to provide an industry to an establishment for which none is reported.
Only the final industry codes assigned in each system are kept on the ECF. The SEIN level table provides the employment-weighted modal employment calculated across establishments.
Ownership
Ownership is provided on the establishment level, but it is extremely unusual for two establishments in the same SEIN to report different ownership codes. Any variations in this pattern could indicate an anomaly in the data. Employers with federal ownership are included in the ECF, but these are not associated with wage records (except in extremely isolated and limited instances).
Firm Age and Size
Firm age and size characteristics are assigned based on the national firm. Firms are defined at the level of operational control (alpha), and so a single firm can include multiple federal EINs. Firm age and size are defined in terms of employment.
Firm age is defined as the age of the oldest establishment when a new alpha comes into existence. Age measures the number of years from the first year of employment (i.e., the first year with positive payroll), when the age is zero. New establishments of an older firm are assigned the age of the national firm.
National firm size is the sum of all workers employed at each establishment in the national (alpha) firm on March 12th of the year. Firm size in year t is defined as the employment-weighted sum of firm size on March 12 in year t-1 of all establishments that are part of an EIN on March 12 in year t.
The primary source of firm age and size information is the Longitudinal Business Database (LBD), an annual table derived from federal tax information (FTI). Because firm age and size data are sourced from FTI, these employer characteristics are included in the ECF T26 files. Employers (SEINs) are linked to the LBD via the federal EIN. When a link to the LBD cannot be made, the age and size is developed from ECF data using a combination of edits and imputation. For additional methodological details, see Haltiwanger et al. [2014].
Federal EIN and FAS_EIN Variable
The FAS_EIN variable is attached to the SEIN to assign firm age and size characteristics. When the Federal EIN is available on input data, it is incorporated into the FAS_EIN, though in some cases it may be encrypted and not linkable to the EIN. The EIN may be edited from that originally reported for longitudinal consistency or to improve linkages with the LBD. When the EIN is not available, the FAS_EIN is formed from the SEIN, with two digits added for a counter to handle cases where the SEIN appears to have been recirculated by the state (unrelated firms being assigned the same SEIN). The FAS_EIN may appear as follows:
Prefix EINUS - last 9 digits are the Federal EIN (e.g.,
EINUS123456789
)Prefix EIN[state] - last 9 digits are an encrypted Federal EIN (e.g.,
EINNY123456ABC
)Otherwise, SEIN plus increment (e.g.,
33ABCD1234EFGH01
)
3.1.3. Codebook: The ECF SEINUNIT Files
Table Metadata for Employer Characteristics File, Establishment (ECF_ZZ_SEINUNIT)
State Approval Required | IRS Approval Required | SSA Approval Required | |
---|---|---|---|
Access Requirements | X |
- Description
An establishment level file with industry, size, and location.
- Scope
State
- Key
SEIN YEAR QUARTER SEINUNIT
- Sort Order
SEIN YEAR QUARTER SEINUNIT
- File Format
SAS Data Table
- Download Codebook
Variable Information
Variable Name | Type | Length | Description |
---|---|---|---|
char | 2 | ES202 FIPS State SS (See details in appendix) |
|
SEIN | char | 12 | State Employer Identification Number |
SEINUNIT | char | 5 | State establishment identifier |
YEAR | num | 4 | Year (YYYY) |
QUARTER | num | 4 | Quarter (Numeric) |
num | 3 | Quarter index (1985Q1=1) (See details in appendix) |
|
num | 3 | SEIN in ES202 (See details below) |
|
num | 3 | SEIN in UI (See details below) |
|
EMPL_MONTH1 | num | 8 | ES202 Employment Month 1, edited |
char | 1 | Reported or imputed Month 1 Employment (See details below) |
|
EMPL_MONTH2 | num | 5 | ES202 Employment Month 2, edited |
char | 1 | Reported or imputed Month 2 Employment (See details below) |
|
EMPL_MONTH3 | num | 5 | ES202 Employment Month 3, edited |
char | 1 | Reported or imputed Month 3 Employment (See details below) |
|
TOTAL_WAGES | num | 7 | ES202 wages, edited |
char | 1 | Reported or imputed Total Wages (See details below) |
|
BEST_EMP1 | num | 8 | Best UI/202 Employment Month 1 |
BEST_EMP2 | num | 8 | Best UI/202 Employment Month 2 |
BEST_EMP3 | num | 8 | Best UI/202 Employment Month 3 |
BEST_WAGES | num | 8 | Best UI/202 Wages |
char | 1 | Owner code, edited (See details in appendix) |
|
GEOID_2020 | char | 15 | Census geocode: Tabulation state FIPS (2) || Tabulation county FIPS (3) || tract (6) || block (4) |
char | 2 | Current FIPS State (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 5 | ||
LEG_LATITUDE | num | 8 | Internal point latitude, 6 implied decimals |
LEG_LONGITUDE | num | 8 | Internal point longitude, 6 implied decimals |
num | 3 | Quality of final geography (See details in appendix) |
|
LEG_TRACT | char | 6 | Current Census Tract |
LEG_BLKGRP | char | 1 | Current Block Group |
LEG_BLOCK | char | 4 | Census Block |
char | 5 | Core-Based Statistical Area (See details in appendix) |
|
LEG_BLOCK_SUF1 | char | 1 | Census Block suffix 1 |
LEG_BLOCK_SUF2 | char | 1 | Census Block suffix 2 |
char | 1 | CBSA type 1=Metro, 2=Micro, else=9 (See details below) |
|
char | 8 | ||
char | 5 | ||
char | 6 | Final SIC 1987 code (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 6 | Final NAICS 1997 code (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 6 | Final NAICS 2002 code (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 6 | Final NAICS 2007 code (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 6 | Final NAICS 2012 code (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 6 | Final NAICS 2017 code (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 6 | Final NAICS 2022 code (See details in appendix) |
|
RAMP_SEIN | num | 8 | Ramp Fuzz Factor |
UNIFORM_SEIN | num | 8 | Draw from Uni Dist |
RAMP_Z_SEIN | num | 8 | Ramp Fuzz Factor |
UNIFORM_Z_SEIN | num | 8 | Draw from Uni Dist |
Details for variable IN_202 on ECF_ZZ_SEINUNIT
- Description
SEIN in ES202
- Codebook
Value Label 0 SEIN not in QCEW 1 SEIN in QCEW
Details for variable IN_UI on ECF_ZZ_SEINUNIT
- Description
SEIN in UI
- Codebook
Value Label 0 SEIN not in UI wage data 1 SEIN in UI wage data
Details for variable EMPL_MONTH1_FLG on ECF_ZZ_SEINUNIT
- Description
Reported or imputed Month 1 Employment
- Codebook
Value Label 0 undocumented BLS QCEW code 1 undocumented BLS QCEW code 2 undocumented BLS QCEW code 3 undocumented BLS QCEW code 4 undocumented BLS QCEW code 5 undocumented BLS QCEW code 6 undocumented BLS QCEW code 7 undocumented BLS QCEW code 8 undocumented BLS QCEW code 9 undocumented BLS QCEW code A estimated from CES report B undocumented BLS QCEW code C changed (re-reported) D reported from missing data notice E imputed single unit employment or imputed worksite employment prorated from imputed parent record F undocumented BLS QCEW code G undocumented BLS QCEW code H hand-imputed (not system generated) J undocumented BLS QCEW code K special system-generated imputation to reflect data impacted by a catastrophe L late reported (overrides prior imputation) M missing data N zero-filled pending resolution of long-term delinquent reporter P prorated from reported master to worksite R reported data S aggregated master from reported MWR or EDI data T undocumented BLS QCEW code V undocumented BLS QCEW code W estimated from wage record employment X undocumented BLS QCEW code Y undocumented BLS QCEW code
Details for variable EMPL_MONTH2_FLG on ECF_ZZ_SEINUNIT
- Description
Reported or imputed Month 2 Employment
- Codebook
Value Label 0 undocumented BLS QCEW code 1 undocumented BLS QCEW code 2 undocumented BLS QCEW code 3 undocumented BLS QCEW code 4 undocumented BLS QCEW code 5 undocumented BLS QCEW code 6 undocumented BLS QCEW code 7 undocumented BLS QCEW code 8 undocumented BLS QCEW code 9 undocumented BLS QCEW code A estimated from CES report B undocumented BLS QCEW code C changed (re-reported) D reported from missing data notice E imputed single unit employment or imputed worksite employment prorated from imputed parent record F undocumented BLS QCEW code G undocumented BLS QCEW code H hand-imputed (not system generated) J undocumented BLS QCEW code K special system-generated imputation to reflect data impacted by a catastrophe L late reported (overrides prior imputation) M missing data N zero-filled pending resolution of long-term delinquent reporter P prorated from reported master to worksite R reported data S aggregated master from reported MWR or EDI data T undocumented BLS QCEW code V undocumented BLS QCEW code W estimated from wage record employment X undocumented BLS QCEW code Y undocumented BLS QCEW code
Details for variable EMPL_MONTH3_FLG on ECF_ZZ_SEINUNIT
- Description
Reported or imputed Month 3 Employment
- Codebook
Value Label 0 undocumented BLS QCEW code 1 undocumented BLS QCEW code 2 undocumented BLS QCEW code 3 undocumented BLS QCEW code 4 undocumented BLS QCEW code 5 undocumented BLS QCEW code 6 undocumented BLS QCEW code 7 undocumented BLS QCEW code 8 undocumented BLS QCEW code 9 undocumented BLS QCEW code A estimated from CES report B undocumented BLS QCEW code C changed (re-reported) D reported from missing data notice E imputed single unit employment or imputed worksite employment prorated from imputed parent record F undocumented BLS QCEW code G undocumented BLS QCEW code H hand-imputed (not system generated) J undocumented BLS QCEW code K special system-generated imputation to reflect data impacted by a catastrophe L late reported (overrides prior imputation) M missing data N zero-filled pending resolution of long-term delinquent reporter P prorated from reported master to worksite R reported data S aggregated master from reported MWR or EDI data T undocumented BLS QCEW code V undocumented BLS QCEW code W estimated from wage record employment X undocumented BLS QCEW code Y undocumented BLS QCEW code
Details for variable TOTAL_WAGES_FLG on ECF_ZZ_SEINUNIT
- Description
Reported or imputed Total Wages
- Codebook
Value Label 0 undocumented BLS QCEW code 1 undocumented BLS QCEW code 2 undocumented BLS QCEW code 3 undocumented BLS QCEW code 4 undocumented BLS QCEW code 6 undocumented BLS QCEW code 7 undocumented BLS QCEW code 9 undocumented BLS QCEW code A undocumented BLS QCEW code C changed (re-reported) D undocumented BLS QCEW code E imputed single unit or prorated worksite wages from an imputed master record G undocumented BLS QCEW code H hand-imputed (not system generated) I undocumented BLS QCEW code J undocumented BLS QCEW code K special system-generated imputation to reflect data impacted by a catastrophe L late reported (overrides prior imputation) M missing data N zero-filled pending resolution of long-term delinquent reporter O undocumented BLS QCEW code P prorated from master to worksite R reported data S aggregated master from reported MWR or EDI data U undocumented BLS QCEW code V undocumented BLS QCEW code W estimated from wage record wages X undocumented BLS QCEW code Y undocumented BLS QCEW code
Details for variable LEG_CBSA_MEMI on ECF_ZZ_SEINUNIT
- Description
CBSA type 1=Metro, 2=Micro, else=9
- Codebook
Value Label 1 Metropolitan CBSA 2 Micropolitan CBSA 9 Non-metro/micro region
3.1.4. Codebook: The ECF SEIN Files
Table Metadata for Employer Characteristics File, Firm (ECF_ZZ_SEIN)
State Approval Required | IRS Approval Required | SSA Approval Required | |
---|---|---|---|
Access Requirements | X |
- Description
Sourced from the SEINUNIT file, this file rolls up employer characteristics to the SEIN level.
- Scope
State
- Key
SEIN YEAR QUARTER
- Sort Order
SEIN YEAR QUARTER
- File Format
SAS Data Table
- Download Codebook
Variable Information
Variable Name | Type | Length | Description |
---|---|---|---|
char | 2 | ES202 FIPS State SS (See details in appendix) |
|
SEIN | char | 12 | State Employer Identification Number |
YEAR | num | 4 | Year (YYYY) |
QUARTER | num | 4 | Quarter (Numeric) |
num | 3 | Quarter index (1985Q1=1) (See details in appendix) |
|
num | 3 | SEIN in ES202 (See details below) |
|
num | 3 | SEIN in UI (See details below) |
|
SEIN_EMP1 | num | 8 | SEIN 202 Employment Month 1 |
SEIN_EMP2 | num | 8 | SEIN 202 Employment Month 2 |
SEIN_EMP3 | num | 8 | SEIN 202 Employment Month 3 |
SEIN_WAGES | num | 8 | SEIN 202 Wages |
SEINSIZE_M | num | 8 | UI Employment M |
SEINSIZE_B | num | 8 | UI Employment B |
SEINSIZE_E | num | 8 | UI Employment E |
PAYROLL | num | 8 | Original UI Payroll Info W1 |
SEIN_BEST_EMP1 | num | 8 | SEIN Best UI/202 Month 1, Employment |
SEIN_BEST_EMP2 | num | 8 | SEIN Best UI/202 Month 2, Employment |
SEIN_BEST_EMP3 | num | 8 | SEIN Best UI/202 Month 3, Employment |
SEIN_BEST_WAGES | num | 8 | SEIN Best UI/202 Payroll |
num | 8 | Source of best_ data (See details below) |
|
num | 3 | SEIN with 2 or more establishments on 202 (See details below) |
|
NUM_ESTABS | num | 4 | Number of Establishments |
char | 1 | Employment mode owner code (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 5 | ||
char | 2 | ||
char | 5 | ||
char | 8 | ||
char | 5 | Employment mode Core-based statistical area (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 6 | Employment mode Final SIC 1987 code (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 6 | Employment mode Final NAICS 1997 code (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 6 | Employment mode Final NAICS 2002 code (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 6 | Employment mode Final NAICS 2007 code (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 6 | Employment mode Final NAICS 2012 code (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 6 | Employment mode Final NAICS 2017 code (See details in appendix) |
|
char | 6 | Employment mode Final NAICS 2022 code (See details in appendix) |
|
RAMP_SEIN | num | 8 | Ramp Fuzz Factor |
UNIFORM_SEIN | num | 8 | Draw from Uni Dist |
RAMP_Z_SEIN | num | 8 | Ramp Fuzz Factor |
UNIFORM_Z_SEIN | num | 8 | Draw from Uni Dist |
Details for variable IN_202 on ECF_ZZ_SEIN
- Description
SEIN in ES202
- Codebook
Value Label 0 SEIN not in QCEW 1 SEIN in QCEW
Details for variable IN_UI on ECF_ZZ_SEIN
- Description
SEIN in UI
- Codebook
Value Label 0 SEIN not in UI wage data 1 SEIN in UI wage data
Details for variable BEST_FLAG on ECF_ZZ_SEIN
- Description
Source of best_ data
- Codebook
Value Label 1 UI-source employment, QCEW-soucrce earnings, single unit firm 2 QCEW-source employment, UI-source earnings, single unit firm 3 QCEW-source employment and earnings, single unit firm 4 UI-source employment and earnings, single unit firm 5 QCEW-source employment and earnings, single unit firm, no UI data 6 UI-source employment and earnings, single unit firm, no QCEW data 7 UI-source employment, QCEW-soucrce earnings, multi unit firm 8 QCEW-source employment, UI-source earnings, multi unit firm 9 QCEW-source employment and earnings, multi unit firm 10 UI-source employment and earnings, multi unit firm 11 UI-source employment and earnings, multi unit firm, no QCEW data 12 Multi unit, longitudinal edit for allocation
Details for variable MULTI_UNIT on ECF_ZZ_SEIN
- Description
SEIN with 2 or more establishments on 202
- Codebook
Value Label 0 Single unit firm 1 Multi unit firm on QCEW
3.1.5. Codebook: The ECF T26 Files
Table Metadata for Employer Characteristics File, National Firm (ECF_ZZ_SEIN_T26)
State Approval Required | IRS Approval Required | SSA Approval Required | |
---|---|---|---|
Access Requirements | X | X |
- Description
Contains the national firm age and size data for employers in the ECF. This file requires IRS approval.
- Scope
State
- Key
SEIN YEAR QUARTER
- Sort Order
SEIN YEAR QUARTER
- File Format
SAS Data Table
- Download Codebook
Variable Information
Variable Name | Type | Length | Description |
---|---|---|---|
SEIN | char | 12 | State Employer Identification Number |
YEAR | num | 4 | Year (YYYY) |
QUARTER | num | 4 | Quarter (Numeric) |
FIRMID | char | 10 | Firm Alpha from LBD |
FAS_EIN | char | 14 | Firm identifier for Age & Size |
num | 3 | Info about fas_ein variable (See details below) |
|
FIRMAGE | num | 8 | Firm Age, calculated |
char | 1 | Source of firm age (See details below) |
|
FIRMSIZE | num | 8 | Best initial firm size (size March 12 of last year, current size if new) |
char | 1 | Source of firm size (See details below) |
|
FIRM_BIRTH_YEAR | num | 8 | Completed year of birth |
FIRM_BIRTH_QUARTER | num | 8 | Completed quarter of birth |
FIRMSIZE_FUZZ | num | 8 | Noise infused value of firmsize |
num | 8 | 1=EIN matches to LBD this year,2=next year,3=previous year,4=NECF(no LBD),5=ECF only (See details below) |
|
num | 8 | Multi Unit firm in LBD microdata (See details below) |
Details for variable FAS_EIN_FLAG on ECF_ZZ_SEIN_T26
- Description
Info about fas_ein variable
- Codebook
Value Label 1 EIN as reported on QCEW in current quarter 2 EIN missing in current quarter, longitudinally edited 3 Reported EIN overriden by longitudinal edit 4 Pseudo-EIN based on SEIN 5 UI-sourced EIN
Details for variable SOURCE_AGE on ECF_ZZ_SEIN_T26
- Description
Source of firm age
- Codebook
Value Label 1 Firm age from LBD 2 Firm age from national ECF 3 Firm age imputed 4 Firm age from state ECF
Details for variable SOURCE_SIZE on ECF_ZZ_SEIN_T26
- Description
Source of firm size
- Codebook
Value Label 1 Firm size from LBD 2 Firm size from national ECF 3 Firm size imputed 4 Firm size from state ECF
Details for variable LBD_MATCH on ECF_ZZ_SEIN_T26
- Description
1=EIN matches to LBD this year,2=next year,3=previous year,4=NECF(no LBD),5=ECF only
- Codebook
Value Label 1 Match to LBD in reference year 2 Match to LBD in subsequent year 3 Match to LBD in previous year 4 No match to LBD 5 No match to LBD (state-only)
Details for variable MULTI_UNIT_LBD on ECF_ZZ_SEIN_T26
- Description
Multi Unit firm in LBD microdata
- Codebook
Value Label 0 Firm on LBD is a single unit 1 Firm on LBD reports multiple units