The Census
Bureau will request a no material/nonsubstantive change to a
currently approved collection through ROCIS as soon as it modifies
and finalizes the IC forms/documents and before they are used to
collect information from the public. The documents approved for
this ICR are those with the latest date for each individual
document type.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
10/31/2008
10/31/2008
10/31/2008
21,570
0
21,570
12,173
0
11,095
0
0
0
The Annual Retail Trade Survey
provides the only continuing official measure of annual sales,
purchases, end-of-year inventories, sales/inventory ratios, and
accounts receivable balances. The sales and inventories are used as
benchmarks for the monthly series. These data, along with
purchases, are also used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the
computation of the GDP. The accounts receivable balances are used
by the Federal Reserve Board. Responses are a sample of retail
establishments in the U.S.
In attempts to clarify
reporting in the Annual Retail Trade Survey (ARTS) the Census
Bureau has decided to make the two forms SA-721A and SA-721E into
four forms to better reflect the NAICS codes they represent. The
revised SA-721A and SA-721E will continue to request the same
information under a new title Annual Accommodation Report Hotels,
RV Parks, Campgrounds and other Accommodations. The newly created
SA-722A and SA-722E forms will request the same information as is
collected on the SA-721A and SA-721E but will be titled Annual
Food Services Report Restaurants, Food Service Contractors and
Drinking Places. Both of these new forms have Includes and
Excludes that are more specific to the industry they represent. The
Census Bureau also plans to add one data item total operating
expenses to all the ARTS forms, SA-44, SA-44A, SA-44C, SA-44E,
SA-44N, SA-44S, SA-45, SA-45C, SA-721A, SA-721E, SA-722A, and
SA-722E. This action is necessary because of the pending
integration of the five-year Business Expense Survey (BES) with the
ARTS. Beginning with 2007 and once every five years after that,
ARTS will also collect up to 25 detailed operating expense items.
This data is used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to
benchmark input-output (I-O) accounts and the annual industry
accounts (includes Gross Domestic Product (GDP)-by-industry
accounts and annual I-O accounts). Collecting the total operating
expenses every year beginning in 2006 will allow us to get the
sales and expense data in-line and on a comparable basis since they
will be analyzed together. Then, once every five years when we
collect all of the operating expense detail we will have all of the
data from previous years to help us keep the totals consistent. In
the past when operating expense data have been collected only once
every five years companies have tended to over-report their
operating expenses and also to include expenses that were not
aligned with the sales they reported. Having total operating
expenses will also allow us to present an additional measure on the
profitability of retailers. Since we already calculate gross margin
values we can subtract the operating expenses and calculate profits
by industry or percentage of profit based on sales. This request is
to only add the total operating expenses data item. For the 2007
ARTS, forms will be redesigned either with the operating expense
detail included as part of the ARTS forms or as a supplement to the
existing forms. A request for OMB clearance for the combined forms
or for the supplement will be submitted at that time depending on
which option we choose. There are approximately 21,570 retail
respondents who report once a year. The revised estimated burden
per response is about 34 minutes for all forms (previously about 31
minutes). Because of the availability of the data with other
financial data already collected, it is expected that only three
additional minutes will be necessary for retail stores to complete
this one additional item. The increase in annual reporting burden
for retail respondents is 1,078 hours.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Form SA-44N Annual Retail Trade Report
Annual Retail Trade Report