The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) is an older U.S. statistical classification standard underlying all establishment-based Federal economic statistics classified by industry.
The SIC, most recently SIC [1987], is used to promote the comparability of establishment data describing various facets of the U.S. economy.
The classification covers the entire field of economic activities and defines industries in accordance with the composition and structure of the economy.
In the SIC methodology, the letter or number of digits in the Code indicates the classification hierarchy level, as follows:
| | SIC: | Division | Major Group | Industry Group | Industry | Business | Product |
|---|
| Code: | 1 letter | 2 digits | 3 digits | 4 digits | 5 digits | 6 digits |
|---|
| Number: | 11 | 83 | 505 | 1,504 | — 15,219 — |
|---|
SIC [1987], which superseded SIC [1977], is the standard used by the SEC.
The 4-digit SIC [1987] Industry Codes that appear in a company’s disseminated EDGAR filings indicate the company’s type of business.
These Industry Codes are also used in the SEC Division of Corporation Finance as a basis for assigning review responsibility for the company’s filings.
(See the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance: Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code List.)
The SEC only uses a subset (430) of the 1,504 official 4-digit SIC [1987] Industry Codes (plus 18 unique SEC-specific Codes),
so SEC Info parses the filings for all SIC Codes in order to show more accurately and completely how companies classify themselves.
The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is a newer North American standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. economy.
The NAICS, most recently NAICS [2007], was developed under the auspices of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to replace SIC [1987].
It was developed jointly by the U.S., Canada and Mexico to allow for a high level of comparability in business statistics among the North American countries.
It was first published as NAICS [1997], and later updated as NAICS [2002] and NAICS [2007].
In the NAICS methodology, the number of digits in the Code indicates the classification hierarchy level, as follows:
| | NAICS: | Sector | Subsector | Industry Group | Industry | Business | Product |
|---|
| Code: | 2 digits | 3 digits | 4 digits | 5 or 6 digits | – | – |
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| Number: | 24 | 99 | 313 | 721+1,175=1,896 | — 19,720 — |
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The SEC does not use NAICS Codes, so SEC Info cross-references SIC [1987] with NAICS [2007] and presents both standards herein, mapping each SIC Code and NAICS Code to one or more of its counterparts. |
