[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 216 (Thursday, November 8, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63161-63162]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-21932]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of 
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 
U.S.C. chapter 35).
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: Annual Capital Expenditures Survey.
    Form Number(s): ACE-1(S), ACE-1(M), ACE-1(L), ACE-2.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0782.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Burden Hours: 132,900.
    Number of Respondents: 61,000.
    Average Hours per Response: 2 hours and 10 minutes.
    Needs and Uses: A major concern of economic policymakers is the 
adequacy of investment in plant and equipment. The data on the amount 
of business expenditures for new plant and equipment and measures of 
the stock of existing facilities are critical to evaluating 
productivity growth, the ability of U.S. business to compete with 
foreign business, changes in industrial capacity, and overall economic 
performance. The ACES survey is the sole source of detailed 
comprehensive statistics on investment in buildings and other 
structures, machinery, and equipment by private nonfarm businesses in 
the United States.
    Data users tell us that they need comprehensive and consistent data 
on investment by all private nonfarm businesses, by industry, by kind 
of investment, i.e., whether in new or used structures or equipment. 
The objectives of the ACES survey are:
    (a) To provide estimates of capital expenditures for all private 
nonfarm sectors of the economy by 3-digit and selected 4-digit North 
American Industry Classification System (NAICS) levels;
    (b) To base the survey on a probability sample that yields measures 
of the statistical reliability of the survey estimates;
    (c) To develop a base survey to benchmark more frequent surveys on 
capital expenditures that do not have complete industry coverage;
    (d) To produce annual enterprise-level data with the level of 
detail, coverage, and quality which previously was only available as 
part of the quinquennial economic census;
    (e) To provide detail on capital expenditures for estimating the 
national income and product accounts, estimating the productivity of 
U.S. industries, evaluating fiscal and monetary policy, and conducting 
research using capital expenditures data; and
    (f) To provide industry analysts with capital expenditures data for 
market analysis, economic forecasting, product development, and 
business planning.
    This request is for a revision of a currently approved collection 
and will cover the 2007 through 2009 ACES (conducted in fiscal years 
2008-2010). Changes from the previous ACES authorization are the 
collection of capital expenditures by type of structure and type of 
equipment in the 2008 ACES, and the incorporation of the 2007 North 
American Industry Classification System (NAICS) in the 2009 ACES.
    Capital expenditures by type of structure and type of equipment 
were last collected from employer companies in the 2003 ACES. These 
data, collected together once every five years, will again be collected 
in the 2008 ACES. The data are critical to evaluating the 
comprehensiveness of capital expenditures statistics in years detailed 
data on types of structures and equipment are not collected. The 
detailed structures data will provide a 5-year benchmark for estimates 
of new construction put in place. The detailed equipment data will 
provide a periodic measure of expenditures by type of equipment and 
assist in evaluating estimates of the private equipment and software 
components of nonresidential fixed investment.
    Through the 2008 ACES, data will be based on the 2002 NAICS. 
Beginning with the 2009 ACES, however, we will collect and publish data 
based on the 2007 NAICS. Industries in the survey will comprise 3-digit 
and 4-digit 2007 NAICS codes.
    To collect data, the Census Bureau will rely primarily on mail out/
mail back survey forms. Employer companies will be mailed one of three 
forms based on the diversity of their operations, i.e., the number of 
industries in which they have payroll. All employer forms will have the 
3-digit or selected 4-digit NAICS industries imprinted on the form to 
minimize the need for industry self coding.
    Companies that operate in only one industry will receive an ACE-
1(S) form. These companies will not be asked to report capital 
expenditures by industry, thus eliminating the need for industry

[[Page 63162]]

self coding. Companies that operate in more than one but less than nine 
industries will receive an ACE-1(M) form. Companies that operate in 
nine or more industries will receive an ACE-1(L) form.
    All ACE-1 forms request sales and receipts information to calculate 
industry investment to sales ratios and to assist in verifying that 
consolidated company data are being reported. Asset and depreciation 
information, also collected, assists in measuring changes in the 
Nation's capital stock estimates.
    Capital expenditures data are also collected annually from a small 
sample of nonemployer enterprises using Form ACE-2. This collection is 
intended to better represent the total capital expenditures activity of 
all firms.
    The ACES is an integral part of the Federal Government's effort to 
improve the quality and usefulness of National economic statistics. 
Federal agencies, including the Census Bureau, use these data to 
improve and supplement ongoing statistical programs.
    The Census Bureau uses the data to improve the quality of monthly 
economic indicators of investment. The Bureau's Value of New 
Construction Put in Place survey currently uses the ACES data to 
benchmark its industrial buildings data. The Bureau of Economic 
Analysis (BEA) uses the data in refining and evaluating annual 
estimates of investment in structures and equipment in the national 
income and product accounts, compiling annual input-output tables, and 
computing gross domestic product by industry. The Federal Reserve Board 
uses the data to improve estimates of investment indicators for 
monetary policy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses the data to 
improve estimates of capital stocks for productivity analysis. In 
addition, industry analysts use the data for market analysis, economic 
forecasting, product development, and business planning.
    Affected Public: Business or other for profit organizations; Not-
for-profit institutions.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. Sections 182, 224, & 225.
    OMB Desk Officer: Brian Harris-Kojetin, (202) 395-7314.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, (202) 482-0266, Department of Commerce, room 6625, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 
[email protected]v).
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB Desk Officer either by fax (202) 395-7245) 
or e-mail ([email protected]).

    Dated: November 2, 2007.
Gwellnar Banks,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. E7-21932 Filed 11-7-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P