To provide periodic estimates on capital expenditures, depreciable assets, and
operating expenses for retail, merchant wholesale, and selected service firms.
The United States Code, Title 13, authorizes this survey and provides for
mandatory responses. Firms and legal entities classified as wholesale merchants NAICS 42,
retail trade NAICS 44-45, or selected service industries, most of NAICS 54-92. Data are collected on operating expenses, capital expenditures, and depreciable
assets. Data on operating expenses include payroll and fringe benefits, taxes
and license fees, depreciation and amortization charges, computer software
purchases, lease and rental payments, utilities, advertising, accounting, data processing, and
legal services. Data on capital expenditures and depreciable assets include
capital expenditures by type, changes in depreciable asset accounts, capital
and operating leases, and capitalized interest. Data are requested for activities taking place during the census calendar year. Every 5 years since 1958, for years ending in "2" and "7." Firms are contacted
early in the year following the reporting period. A mail-out/mail-back survey of 54,000 firms and Employer Identification Numbers
(EINs) selected in samples for the Service Annual Survey; the Annual Trade
Survey; and the Annual Retail Trade Survey. EINs may represent one or more
establishments and firms may have one or more EINs. Samples for each of the
component programs are stratified probability samples of employer businesses
drawn after the preceding 5-year censuses, supplemented by area samples to
identify new businesses and nonemployers in retail trade and selected service
industries. Samples are revised to reflect known changes in business and
organization structure. National estimates are developed to supplement 5-year census data. Estimates
(except for sales and receipts) are developed from the summation of weighted
information adjusted by a process that benchmarks them to the corresponding
economic censuses. The weights are the inverse of the probability of selection
(or sampling rate) of sampling units in the survey. Three reports are published 3 to 4 years after the census year with 3- and
4- digit industry detail. The wholesale and retail reports are published with
their respective Economic Census Subject Series, Measures of Value Produced,
Capital Expenditures, Depreciable Assets, and Operating Expenses. The service
report is published in the census of services industries Subject Series, Capital
Expenditures, Depreciable Assets, and Operating Expenses. Measures of value
produced are estimated only for retail trade and merchant wholesale trade. Separate
estimates for non-employers were published for 1992 but not 1987. The Bureau of Economic Analysis uses the estimates for benchmarking the
national income and product accounts, capital stock accounts, and input-output
tables. The Department of Health and Human Services uses the expense estimates
to forecast rising medical costs. The Department of Labor uses the capital
expenditures estimates for projecting industry spending and future employment
estimates. Market research firms use the estimates for market research and analysis.
Trade and professional associations use the estimates for trade analysis. The only source of periodic and comprehensive industry statistics on major economic inputs
by type. Enterprise Statistics
(discontiuned 1992)
Annual Capital Expenditures
Survey
Investment Plans Survey
(discontinued; formerly the Plant and Equipment Survey)
Last revised: Thursday, 27-Jul-2006 11:10:42 EDT
BUSINESS EXPENDITURES SURVEY
(formerly the Assets and Expenditure Survey) PURPOSE
COVERAGE
CONTENT
FREQUENCY
METHODS
PRODUCTS
USES
SPECIAL FEATURES
RELATED PROGRAMS