Annual Capital Expenditures Survey

Beginning with the 2014 ACES, the Census Bureau now collects data from both employer and nonemployer companies primarily through electronic reporting. For the 2007 and prior ACES data collection, the sample consisted of approximately 45,000 companies with 1 or more employees and 15,000 companies with no paid employees. For the 2008 through 2015 ACES data collection, the nonemployer sample was increased to 30,000. For the 2016 ACES, the nonemployer sample was reduced from 30,000 to 20,000 and the sample size for employer businesses was increased from 45,000 to 50,000 cases. Larger companies are selected each year from the updated Business Register (BR); all companies with at least 500 paid employees are included in the survey; and smaller companies with employees are stratified by industry and payroll size and selected randomly by strata. Companies without employees are selected randomly without regard to industry classification.

For the 2012 and prior ACES data collection; the Census Bureau used mail out/mail back survey forms to collect data. For the 2013 ACES, the Census Bureau collected data from employer companies primarily through electronic reporting and continued to use mail out/mail back survey forms to collect data from nonemployer companies.Firms are asked to provide capital expenditures data for each industry in which they had activity and to classify these expenditures as new or used and as structures, equipment, or other. Respondents were also asked to report new structures and equipment acquired under capital lease agreements entered into during the survey year, and capitalized interest incurred to produce or construct new fixed assets during the survey year. In addition, certain data on total assets, depreciation & retirements, and sales/revenue are also collected.

Prior to 1999, capital expenditure data was collected on almost 100 industries at the two- to three-digit SIC level of detail (exhausting the non-farm sectors of the economy). Since 1999, data are collected on about 134 non-farm industries at the three- to four-digit NAICS level of detail. In addition, a category was provided for classifying a firm's structures and equipment expenditures serving multiple industries; for example, headquarters, regional offices, and central research laboratories.

In certain years of the ACES, firms are asked to break down their investment expenditures by type of structure and by type of equipment (in addition to breaking it down by industry). For example, in 1994, firms were asked to provide detail on their structure expenditure. In 1998, detail on both structure and equipment expenditure was asked. The ACES recognizes approximately 29 different categories of structure expenditure and 26 different categories of equipment expenditure.

Content and survey design may vary slightly from year to year. See the Census Bureau website for ACES publications, which contain additional detail about a particular year's survey as well as sample survey forms.