ARD

Abstract

"The Annual Respondents Database (ARD) is constructed from a compulsory business survey. Until 1997 it was created out of the Annual Censuses of Production and Construction (ACOP and ACOC), these were combined into the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) in 1998. The ARD is a census of large businesses, and a sample of smaller ones. Smaller firms may receive a ""short form"". These do not require detailed breakdowns of totals. Hence for certain variables the values may be imputed from third party sources or estimated rather than returned by respondents. This dataset is created for the Economic Analysis and Satellite Accounts Division for research purposes. To create the ARD, the other surveys are converted into a single consistent format linked by the Inter-Departmental Business Register references over time. Northern Ireland data is held up to 2001. From 2002, the ABI is collected and stored separately in Northern Ireland. Special permission is required to use new NI ABI data."