Abstract

The intention is to collect data for the calendar year 2009 (or the nearest year for which each business keeps its accounts. The survey is considered a one-off survey, although for accurate NAs, such a survey should be conducted at least every five years to enable regular updating of the ratios, etc., needed to adjust the ongoing indicator data (mainly VAGST) to NA concepts. The questionnaire will be drafted by FSD, largely following the previous BAS, updated to current accounting terminology where necessary. The questionnaire will be pilot tested, using some accountants who are likely to complete a number of the forms on behalf of their business clients, and a small sample of businesses. Consultations will also include Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour, Central Bank of Samoa (CBS), Samoa Tourism Authority, Chamber of Commerce, and other business associations (hotels, retail, etc.).

The questionnaire will collect a number of items of information about the business ownership, locations at which it operates and each establishment for which detailed data can be provided (in the case of complex businesses), contact information, and other general information needed to clearly identify each unique business. The main body of the questionnaire will collect data on income and expenses, to enable value added to be derived accurately. The questionnaire will also collect data on capital formation, and will contain supplementary pages for relevant industries to collect volume of production data for selected commodities and to collect information to enable an estimate of value added generated by key tourism activities.

The principal user of the data will be FSD which will incorporate the survey data into benchmarks for the NA, mainly on the current published production measure of GDP. The information on capital formation and other relevant data will also be incorporated into the experimental estimates of expenditure on GDP. The supplementary data on volumes of production will be used by FSD to redevelop the industrial production index which has recently been transferred under the SBS from the CBS. The general information about the business ownership, etc., will be used to update the Business Register.

Outputs will be produced in a number of formats, including a printed report containing descriptive information of the survey design, data tables, and analysis of the results. The report will also be made available on the SBS website in “.pdf” format, and the tables will be available on the SBS website in excel tables. Data by region may also be produced, although at a higher level of aggregation than the national data. All data will be fully confidentialised, to protect the anonymity of all respondents. Consideration may also be made to provide, for selected analytical users, confidentialised unit record files (CURFs).

A high level of accuracy is needed because the principal purpose of the survey is to develop revised benchmarks for the NA. The initial plan was that the survey will be conducted as a stratified sample survey, with full enumeration of large establishments and a sample of the remainder.

Geographic coverage

National Coverage

Analysis unit

The main statistical unit to be used for the survey is the establishment. For simple businesses that undertake a single activity at a single location there is a one-to-one relationship between the establishment and the enterprise. For large and complex enterprises, however, it is desirable to separate each activity of an enterprise into establishments to provide the most detailed information possible for industrial analysis. The business register will need to be developed in such a way that records the links between establishments and their parent enterprises. The business register will be created from administrative records and may not have enough information to recognize all establishments of complex enterprises. Large businesses will be contacted prior to the survey post-out to determine if they have separate establishments. If so, the extended structure of the enterprise will be recorded on the business register and a questionnaire will be sent to the enterprise to be completed for each establishment.

SBS has decided to follow the New Zealand simplified version of its statistical units model for the 2009 BAS. Future surveys may consider location units and enterprise groups if they are found to be useful for statistical collections.

It should be noted that while establishment data may enable the derivation of detailed benchmark accounts, it may be necessary to aggregate up to enterprise level data for the benchmarks if the ongoing data used to extrapolate the benchmark forward (mainly VAGST) are only available at the enterprise level.

Universe

The BAS's covered all employing units, and excluded small non-employing units such as the market sellers. The surveys also excluded central government agencies engaged in public administration (ministries, public education and health, etc.). It only covers businesses that pay the VAGST. (Threshold SAT$75,000 and upwards).

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

-Total Sample Size was 1240 -Out of the 1240, 902 successfully completed the questionnaire. -The other remaining 338 either never responded or were omitted (some businesses were ommitted from the sample as they do not meet the requirement to be surveyed) -Selection was all employing units paying VAGST (Threshold SAT $75,000 upwards)

WILL CONFIRM LATER!!

OSO LE MEA E LE FAASA...AEA :-)

Mode of data collection

Mail Questionnaire [mail]

Research instrument

1. General instructions, authority for the survey, etc;
2. Business demography information on ownership, contact details, structure, etc.;
3. Employment;
4. Income;
5. Expenses;
6. Inventories;
7. Profit or loss and reconciliation to business accounts' profit and loss;
8. Fixed assets - purchases, disposals, book values
9. Thank you and signature of respondent.

Supplementary Pages Additional pages have been prepared to collect data for a limited range of industries. 1.Production data. To rebase and redevelop the Industrial Production Index (IPI), it is intended to collect volume of production information from a selection of large manufacturing businesses. The selection of businesses and products is critical to the usefulness of the IPI. The products must be homogeneous, and be of enough importance to the economy to justify collecting the data. Significance criteria should be established for the selection of products to include in the IPI, and the 2009 BAS provides an opportunity to collect benchmark data for a range of products known to be significant (based on information in the existing IPI, CPI weights, export data, etc.) as well as open questions for respondents to provide information on other significant products. 2.Tourism. There is a strong demand for estimates of tourism value added. To estimate tourism value added using the international standard Tourism Satellite Account methodology requires the use of an input-output table, which is beyond the capacity of SBS at present. However, some indicative estimates of the main parts of the economy influenced by tourism can be derived if the necessary data are collected. Tourism is a demand concept, based on defining tourists (the international standard includes both international and domestic tourists), what products are characteristically purchased by tourists, and which industries supply those products. Some questions targeted at those industries that have significant involvement with tourists (hotels, restaurants, transport and tour operators, vehicle hire, etc.), on how much of their income is sourced from tourism would provide valuable indicators of the size of the direct impact of tourism.

Cleaning operations

Partial imputation was done at the time of receipt of questionnaires, after follow-up procedures to obtain fully completed questionnaires have been followed. Imputation followed a process, i.e., apply ratios from responding units in the imputation cell to the partial data that was supplied. Procedures were established during the editing stage (a) to preserve the integrity of the questionnaires as supplied by respondents, and (b) to record all changes made to the questionnaires during editing. If SBS staff writes on the form, for example, this should only be done in red pen, to distinguish the alterations from the original information.

Additional edit checks were developed, including checking against external data at enterprise/establishment level. External data to be checked against include VAGST and SNPF for turnover and purchases, and salaries and wages and employment data respectively. Editing and imputation processes were undertaken by FSD using Excel.

Sampling error estimates

NOT APPLICABLE!!