Financial Information of Elementary and Secondary Schools (FINESS)

Detailed information for 2022

The objective of this annual survey is to collect financial information on school boards and districts across Canada. These financial statistics are collected from each province and territory and are converted to a standard classification.

Data release - February 5, 2025

• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

These data are required by many organizations and include stakeholders from both inside and outside of Statistics Canada. The information collected from this survey, as well as the other finance surveys, gives governments and various associations involved in the field of education, information which assists in the formulation of education policy. External users of this data include federal government departments which of course are also data providers.

Other divisions within Statistics Canada also use these data "indirectly" as inputs into their statistical programs, for example, annual benchmarks are produced for sub-annual surveys of labour income and to feed the System of National Accounts and the Public Institutions Division. Data from this survey are also used to feed information to international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Moreover, these data are also used as inputs to the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program, as well as the Canadian Social Trends publication.

Reference period: Fiscal year

Collection period: May to December

Subjects

• Education finance
• Education, training and learning

Data sources and methodology

Target population

This survey covers all elementary and secondary school boards or districts in all provinces and territories across Canada.

Instrument design

Not applicable.

Sampling

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

Data are collected for all units of the target population, therefore, no sampling is done.

Data sources

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are extracted from administrative files.

Contacts within each of the appropriate Provincial/Territorial education ministries are sent a request for revenue and expenditure data as reported by the school boards and districts within their jurisdiction. As the data becomes available, collection and verification is done by the survey manager and then processed by the Operations and Integration Division.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Section collects official data on school board revenue and expenses, along with any other relevant information, from the education department of each province and territory. The information is provided as provincial summary totals. A form is used by Statistics Canada to transcribe the information provided by the provinces.

Error detection

Edit programs are implemented both during and after data capture. At the data capture stage, the failure of an edit rule requires or suggests that the respondent be re-contacted. However, most edit rules are implemented after data capture to flag for survey non-response and missing or invalid data.

Imputation

Three imputation strategies are implemented to adjust for survey non-response and missing or invalid data. In order of implementation, these are:

- Historic imputation using data from the previous survey(s);
- Donor imputation using the current survey's data (for partial or complete non-response);
- Re-weighting, by province/territory, when an observation cannot be imputed using the previous two methods.

Estimation

Upon compilation of the administrative data, weighted adjustments are applied to the line items where the necessary detail was not originally reported. These weighted adjustments are based on estimates provided to us directly from the respondents. The weighted adjustments are then compared against other reporting entities and the national average to ensure the data provided are consistent with the values already made available by other respondents.

The estimate of school district revenues and expenditures in Nunavut are calculated based on supplemental data captured from the Elementary and Secondary Education Survey and the Government of Nunavut Public Accounts.

Quality evaluation

The survey team relies upon various statistical methods to validate the year-to-year trends, national comparisons, and detection of outliers. Data collected from this survey are also compared to various benchmarks, including results from the Elementary and Secondary Education Survey, provincial/territorial public accounts, individual financial statements, and data published by the Public Sector Statistics Division (PSSD). If warranted, data providers are contacted to explain any material inconsistencies.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects that 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.

In order to prevent any data disclosure, confidentiality analysis is done using the Statistics Canada Generalized Disclosure Control System (G-Confid). G-Confid is used for primary suppression (direct disclosure) as well as for secondary suppression (residual disclosure). Direct disclosure occurs when the value in a tabulation cell is composed of or dominated by few enterprises while residual disclosure occurs when confidential information can be derived indirectly by piecing together information from different sources or data series.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

Revisions are reported when material improvements have been made in the accuracy of the previously released data. Respondents submit revisions based on changes in their application of accounting principles and the survey definitions. All revisions submitted by respondents are evaluated based on their impact on the data and the effect on future analysis.

Data accuracy

Statistics Canada works closely with provincial/territorial data providers to ensure the proper application of survey definitions and validation of results. Potential non-sampling errors are mitigated through multi-level verification, ongoing dialogue with respondents, and checks during data capture. Non-response bias is minimal, though efforts are underway to directly collect data for Nunavut through supplemental data sources. Coverage is maintained by verifying any changes to reporting entities against audited financial statements.

Response rates:
The response rate is 93%.