Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Quarterly Acquisitions and Disposals of Capital Assets Survey (QCAS) is the new name for a more detailed Quarterly Survey of Capital Expenditure (available from the UK Data Archive under Secure Access conditions from SN 6708 (1998-2014). From quarter one 2015, this new survey will collect the value of capital assets bought and sold, which is important information for the UK National Accounts. It is a statutory survey with a stratified random sample of approximately 27,000 businesses selected from the Inter-Departmental Business Register, where the strata are defined by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007 and employment size of the business. Results from the survey provide essential information for the UK National Accounts and feed into the compilation of Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF). GFCF is a major component of the expenditure measure of UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which shows the total economic activity taking place in the country. It is used to monitor the UK's financial health and prosperity over time and in comparison to other countries. The main reasons for the changes to the survey are to move to the updated European System of Accounts (ESA) 2010 manual, the international guidance for national accounts. Several presentational issues have been addressed but the main changes to the survey are:new questions have been added (increase from 11 to around 30) to improve the quality of estimates and to meet the latest European legislation requirements (ESA 2010) the lower limit of £500 for the value of reported assets has been removed, so all relevant assets (even those below businesses’ Asset Register threshold) should be reported small tools used in production have been included within the definition of GFCFimprovements have been made to the questionnaire’s layout with new sections and headings, designed to make completing the questionnaire easier The data from the...