DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-7451-12
title: Annual Business Survey, 2008-2017: Secure Access
title: ABS

description: The &lt;i&gt;Annual Business Survey&lt;/i&gt; (ABS) is an annual survey of businesses covering the production, construction, distribution and service industries, which represents about two-thirds of the UK economy in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA).&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; Every year, ABS questionnaires are sent by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to around 62,000 businesses in Great Britain, and by the Department for Finance and Personnel Northern Ireland (DFPNI) to around 9,000 businesses in Northern Ireland. Data for Northern Ireland are not available from the UK Data Archive.&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; The ABS is the largest business survey conducted by the ONS in terms of the combined number of respondents and variables it covers (62,000 questionnaires despatched in Great Britain, with around 600 different questions asked). It is the key resource for understanding the detailed structure and performance of businesses across the UK, and is a large contributor of business information to the UK National Accounts.&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; ABS provides a number of high-level indicators of economic activity such as the total value of sales and work completed by businesses, the value of purchases of goods, materials and services, stocks, capital expenditure, and total employment costs.&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; The contribution of different industries to the overall value of economic activity can be assessed and, although estimates of employment from each company are not now collected at the same time, by combining ABS with employment information from the &lt;i&gt;Business Register and Employment Survey&lt;/i&gt; (BRES) it is also possible to get a measure of value added and costs per head to allow better comparison between industrial sectors of different sizes. The indicators in the ABS publications are collected and presented as monetary values or counts, for example, approximate Gross Value Added (aGVA), numbers of enterprises. They are essentially a snapshot of UK business activity, and can be used to understand the level of the contributions to the UK economy from different sectors of the economy at any one time.&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; The ABS replaced the &lt;i&gt;Annual Business Inquiry, Part 2&lt;/i&gt; (ABI/2) in 2009, although ABS data are available for 2008. The BRES replaced the &lt;i&gt;Annual Business Inquiry, Part 1&lt;/i&gt; (ABI/1) in 2009. The BRES data for 2009 onwards are held separately under UK Data Archive SN 7463. ABI/1 and ABI/2 data for 2008 and earlier are held under UK Data Archive SN 6644, &lt;i&gt;Annual Respondents Database: Secure Access&lt;/i&gt; (ARD). Researchers who are applying for access to the ABS and who also require data prior to 2008 are recommended to also apply for the ARD data under SN 6644.&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;i&gt;Linking to other business studies&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt; These data contain Inter-Departmental Business Register reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research.&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;i&gt;Latest edition information&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt; For the twelfth edition (January 2020), the 2016 final dat file and the 2017 revised dat file have been updated with values for the ruref and entref variables added.&lt;br&gt;