[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 8 (Monday, January 13, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2151-2152]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-00321]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44
U.S.C. chapter 35).
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: Annual Capital Expenditures Survey (ACES).
OMB Control Number: 0607-0782.
Form Number(s): ACE-1(S), ACE-1(M), ACE-1(L), ACE-1(I), ACE-2, ACE-
2(I).
Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Burden Hours: 146,570.
Number of Respondents: 75,000.
Average Hours per Response: 2 hours.
Needs and Uses: A major concern of economic policymakers is the
adequacy of investment in plant and equipment. Data on the amount of
business expenditures for new plant and equipment and measures of the
stock of existing facilities are critical to evaluating productivity
growth, the ability of U.S. businesses to compete with foreign
businesses, changes in industrial capacity, and overall economic
performance. The ACES is the sole source of detailed comprehensive
statistics on investment in buildings and other structures, machinery,
and equipment by private nonfarm businesses in the United States.
Data users tell us that they need comprehensive and consistent data
on investment by all private nonfarm businesses, by industry, by kind
of investment, i.e., whether in new or used structures or equipment.
The objectives of the ACES are:
(a) To provide estimates of capital expenditures for all private
nonfarm sectors of the economy by 3-digit and selected 4-digit North
American Industry Classification System (NAICS) levels;
(b) to base the survey on a probability sample that yields measures
of the statistical reliability of the survey estimates;
(c) to develop a base survey to benchmark more frequent surveys on
capital expenditures that do not have complete industry coverage;
(d) to produce annual enterprise-level data with the level of
detail, coverage, and quality, which previously was only available as
part of the quinquennial economic census;
(e) to provide detail on capital expenditures for estimating the
national income and product accounts, estimating the productivity of
U.S. industries, evaluating fiscal and monetary policy, and conducting
research using capital expenditures data; and
(f) to provide industry analysts with capital expenditures data for
market analysis, economic forecasting, product development, and
business planning.
This request is for continuation of a currently approved collection
and will cover the 2013 through 2015 ACES (conducted in fiscal years
2014 through 2016). Changes from the previous ACES authorization are
the elimination of detailed capital expenditures by type of structure
and equipment. These data, collected every five years, were last
collected in the 2012 ACES and will not be collected again until the
2017 ACES.
We will collect and publish data based on the 2012 NAICS.
Industries in the survey will comprise 3-digit and 4-digit 2012 NAICS
codes.
For the 2012 and prior ACES data collection; the Census Bureau used
mail out/mail back survey forms to collect data. Companies were able to
respond via Centurion (The Census Bureau's online reporting system), by
mail, or by using our toll-free number to reply via secure facsimile
machine. We asked companies to respond to the survey within 30 days of
the initial mailing. If companies did not respond by the designated
time, they received letters and/or telephone calls encouraging
participation.
Employer companies were mailed one of three forms based on their
diversity of operations and number of industries with payroll.
Companies that operated in only one industry received an ACE-1(S) form.
Companies that operated in more than one, but less than nine industries
received an ACE-1(M) form. Companies that operated in nine or more
industries received an ACE-1(L). All nonemployer companies received an
ACE-2 form.
For the 2013 ACES collection, the Census Bureau will collect the
data from employer companies primarily through electronic reporting.
Employer companies will receive a mailed notification letter containing
their User ID and password, and directed to respond via Centurion
through the Census Bureau's Business Help Site. The online reporting
instrument is an electronic version of the paper data collection
instrument, and based on their diversity of operations and number of
industries with payroll. Companies operating in only one industry will
access an ACE-1(S) form or electronic instrument. Companies operating
in more than one, but less than nine industries will access an ACE-1(M)
form or electronic instrument. Companies that operate in nine or more
industries will access an ACE-1(L) form or electronic instrument.
Companies will be able to print the form through online services or
request a paper form by mail.
The Census Bureau will continue to use mail out/mail back survey
forms to collect data from nonemployer companies. All nonemployer
companies will receive an ACE-2 form. Nonemployer companies will have
the option to respond by mail or online through the Census Bureau's
Business Help Site using the User ID and password provided to them on
their form.
The Census Bureau will continue to ask both companies with
employees and nonemployer companies to respond to the survey within 30
days. Reminder letters and/or telephone calls encouraging participation
will continue to all companies that have not responded by the
designated time.
For the 2014 and 2015 ACES data collection, the Census Bureau will
determine whether to use the same data collection strategy based upon
the electronic response rate of the employer companies for the 2013
ACES.
All ACE-1 forms request sales and receipts information to calculate
industry investment to sales ratios and to assist in verifying that
consolidated company data are being reported. Asset and depreciation
information, also collected, assists in measuring changes in the
Nation's capital stock estimates.
Capital expenditures data are also collected annually from a sample
of non-employer businesses using Form ACE-2. This collection is
intended to better represent the total capital expenditures activity of
all firms.
The ACES is an integral part of the Federal Government's effort to
improve the quality and usefulness of National economic statistics.
Federal agencies,
[[Page 2152]]
including the Census Bureau, use these data to improve and supplement
ongoing statistical programs.
The Census Bureau uses these data to improve the quality of monthly
economic indicators of investment. The Census Bureau's Value of New
Construction Put in Place Survey currently uses the ACES data to
benchmark its industrial buildings data. The Bureau of Economic
Analysis (BEA) uses these data in refining and evaluating annual
estimates of investment in structures and equipment in the national
income and product accounts, compiling annual input-output tables, and
computing gross domestic product by industry. The Federal Reserve Board
(FRB) uses these data to improve estimates of investment indicators for
monetary policy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) uses these data
to improve estimates of capital stocks for productivity analysis.
In addition, industry analysts use these data for market analysis,
economic forecasting, product development, and business planning.
Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit: Not-for-profit
institutions.
Frequency: Annually.
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: The Census Bureau conducts this survey under the
authority of Title 13 of the United States Code, Sections 131 and 182.
Sections 224 and 225 make the survey mandatory.
OMB Desk Officer: Brian Harris-Kojetin, (202) 395-7314.
Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained
by calling or writing Jennifer Jessup, Departmental Paperwork Clearance
Officer, (202) 482-0336, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at
[email protected]).
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice
to Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB Desk Officer either by fax (202-395-7245)
or email ([email protected]).
Dated: January 7, 2014.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2014-00321 Filed 1-10-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P