Annual Survey of Service Industries: Advertising and Related Services

Detailed information for 2007

This survey collects the financial and operating data needed to develop national and regional economic policies and programs.

Data release - April 14, 2009

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

This annual sample survey collects data required to produce economic statistics for the Advertising and Related Services in Canada.

Data collected from businesses are aggregated with information from other sources to produce official estimates of national and provincial economic production for this industry.

Survey estimates are made available to businesses, governments, investors, associations, and the public. The data are used to monitor industry growth, measure performance, and make comparisons to other data sources to better understand this industry.

Statistical activity

The survey is administered as part of the Unified Enterprise Survey program (UES). The UES program has been designed to integrate, gradually over time, the approximately 200 separate business surveys into a single master survey program. The UES aims at collecting more industry and product detail at the provincial level than was previously possible while avoiding overlap between different survey questionnaires. The redesigned business survey questionnaires have a consistent look, structure and content. The unified approach makes reporting easier for firms operating in different industries because they can provide similar information for each branch operation. This way they avoid having to respond to questionnaires that differ for each industry in terms of format, wording and even concepts.

This survey is part of the Service Industries Program. The survey data gathered are used to compile aggregate statistics for over thirty service industry groupings. Financial data, including revenue, expense and profit statistics are available for all of the surveys in the program. In addition, many compile and disseminate industry-specific information.

Reference period: Calendar year

Subjects

• Business, consumer and property services
• Business performance and ownership
• Financial statements and performance
• Professional, scientific and technical services

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population consists of all establishments classified to the advertising and related services industry (NAICS 5418) according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 2007 during the reference year. This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in advertising and related services.

• Additional documentation

Instrument design

The survey questionnaires comprise generic modules that have been designed to cover several service industries. These modules include revenues, expenses, and employment, as well as an industry-specific module designed to ask for financial and non-financial characteristics that pertain specifically to this industry.

In order to reduce respondent burden, smaller firms receive a characteristics questionnaire (shortened version) which does not include the revenue and expense modules. For smaller firms, revenue and expense data are extracted from administrative files.

Sampling

This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.

The frame is the list of establishments from which the portion eligible for sampling is determined and the sample is taken. The frame provides basic information about each firm including address, industry classification, and information from administrative data sources. The frame is maintained by Statistics Canada's Business Register and is updated using administrative data.

The basic objective of the survey is to produce estimates for the whole industry - incorporated and unincorporated businesses. The data come from two different sources: a sample of all businesses with revenue above or equal to a certain threshold (note: the threshold varies between surveys and sometimes between industries and provinces in the same survey) for which either survey or administrative data may be used; and administrative data only for businesses with revenue below the specified threshold. It should be noted that only financial information is available from businesses below the threshold; e.g., revenue, and expenses such as depreciation and salaries, wages and benefits. Detailed characteristics are collected only for surveyed establishments.

Prior to the selection of a random sample, establishments are classified into homogeneous groups (i.e., groups with the same NAICS codes and same geography). Quality requirements are targeted, and then each group is divided into sub-groups called strata: take-all, must-take, and take-some.

The take-all stratum represents the largest firms in terms of performance (based on revenue) in an industry. The must-take stratum is comprised of units selected based on complex structural characteristics (multi-establishment, multi-legal, multi-NAICS, or multi-province enterprises). All take-all and must-take firms are selected to the sample. Units in the take-some strata are subject to simple random sampling.

The effective sample size for reference year 2007 was 1,014 collection entities.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2008-04-01 to 2008-08-31

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents and extracted from administrative files.

Data are collected through a mail-out/mail-back process, while providing respondents with the option of telephone or other electronic filing methods. The statistical establishment is used as the sampling unit, but selected establishments belonging to the same company and the same industry are aggregated to create a collection entity. This reduces respondent burden and simplifies collection. Therefore, companies with production in more than one establishment are mailed one questionnaire and instructed to report for all Canadian operations. Questionnaires include a provincial distribution section that is later used to determine how to allocate reported production by province.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s).

Error detection

Data are examined for inconsistencies and errors using automated edits coupled with analytical review. Every effort is made to minimize the non-sampling error of omission, duplication, reporting and processing. Several checks are performed on the collected data. These checks look for internal consistency such as the total should equal the sum of the components; if there is a number of employees reported, there should be wages and salaries also reported; the main source of income has to be related to the NAICS code and does not come from the "Other" revenue category; identification of extreme values; etc.

Imputation

Partial records are imputed to make them complete. Data for non-respondents are imputed using donor imputation, administrative data or historical data.

Estimation

As part of the production of final numbers data for companies operating in more than one province or territory are allocated to the provincial level. Administrative data are used to estimate for the portion of the industry that was excluded from survey activity (i.e. small firms whose revenues fell below cut-off thresholds). Sampled data are then weighted to produce estimates representative of the target population.

Quality evaluation

Even though the basic objective of the survey is to produce estimates for the whole industry --all incorporated and unincorporated businesses --not all businesses are surveyed. Rather, a sample is surveyed and the portion eligible for sampling is defined as all statistical establishments with revenue above a certain threshold. (Note: the threshold varies between surveys and sometimes between provinces in the same survey). The excluded portion represents a substantial proportion of the industry in terms of number of establishments (72%), but its contribution to the overall industry revenue is only about 16%. These excluded establishments are accounted for in the final estimates through the use of administrative data. However, only basic information is obtained from administrative sources; i.e., total revenue, expenses, depreciation and salaries, wages and benefits. Detailed characteristics such as client base, revenue by type of service, and detailed expense items are collected only for surveyed establishments.

Prior to publication, combined survey results are analyzed for comparability; in general, this includes a detailed review of: individual responses (especially for the largest companies), general economic conditions, historic trends, and comparisons with administrative data (e.g., income tax, goods and services tax, payroll deductions records, industry and trade association sources).

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

There is no seasonal adjustment. Data from previous years may be revised based on updated information.

Data accuracy

While considerable effort is made to ensure high standards throughout all stages of collection and processing, the resulting estimates are inevitably subject to a certain degree of error. These errors can be broken down into two major types: non-sampling and sampling.

Non-sampling error is not related to sampling and may occur for many reasons. For example, non-response is an important source of non-sampling error. Population coverage, differences in the interpretation of questions, incorrect information from respondents, and mistakes in recording, coding, and processing data are other examples of non-sampling errors.

Of the units contributing to the estimate, the weighted response rate was 79.6%.

Sampling error occurs because population estimates are derived from a sample of the population rather than the entire population. Sampling error depends on factors such as sample size, sampling design, and the method of estimation. An important property of probability sampling is that sampling error can be computed from the sample itself by using a statistical measure called the coefficient of variation (CV). The assumption is that over repeated surveys, the relative difference between a sample estimate and the estimate that would have been obtained from an enumeration of all units in the universe would be less than twice the CV, 95 times out of 100. The range of acceptable data values yielded by a sample is called a confidence interval. Confidence intervals can be constructed around the estimate using the CV. First, we calculate the standard error by multiplying the sample estimate by the CV. The sample estimate plus or minus twice the standard error is then referred to as a 95% confidence interval.

CVs were calculated for each estimate.

The qualities of CVs are rated as follows:
. Excellent 0.01% to 4.99%
. Very good 5.00% to 9.99%
. Good 10.00% to 14.99%
. Acceptable 15.00% to 24.99%
. Use with caution 25.00% to 34.99%
. Unreliable 35.00% or higher

The CVs are available upon request.