Catalogue description Office for National Statistics and Predecessors: Company Accounts Analysis: Dataset

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Details of RG 81
Reference: RG 81
Title: Office for National Statistics and Predecessors: Company Accounts Analysis: Dataset
Description:

The Company Accounts Analysis dataset is an analysis of companies in Great Britain and their accounts, prepared by the Business Statistics Office for analysis on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry. The information includes descriptive data on the company itself, and figures of detailed financial information taken from the balance sheet, income and appropriation account, and sources and uses of funds of the company.

The sample includes all industrial and commercial companies in Great Britain. The data relates to limited companies only and is based on the consolidated annual accounts of company groups and the accounts of independent companies registered in Great Britain. Great Britain subsidiaries of parent companies registered in Northern Ireland or overseas were also included.

The analysis excluded banking, insurance and other financial companies, charities, and companies registered abroad which maintained GB trading addresses.

The datasets in this series are available to download. Links to individual datasets can be found at piece level.

Date: 1981-1986
Arrangement:

Hardware: ICL Series 2900.

Operating System: ICL VME

Application Software: A processor controlled keying (PCK) data capture system was used to capture and validate the data in the dataset. It was edited and processed with COBOL software with specified parameters for certain fields.

Logical structure and schema: The dataset comprises two tables: a Main data file, and a Derived Items table. The table Main data File was used to hold descriptive data on the company itself, while the Derived item table contains figures of detailed financial information taken from the balance sheet, income and appropriation account, and sources and uses of funds of the company.

Related material:

The UK Data Archive holds Company Accounts Analysis Data, 1977-1984, reference SN 2153; and Company Accounts Analysis Data, 1985-1990, reference SN 2365. The 1977-1984 dataset is basically the same as this; where there are corresponding records, they contain the same information apart from some anomalies which probably relate to changes in the coding systems used by Office of National Statistics (ONS).

Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in The National Archives: This series was initially allocated the reference RG 80, which was then used for a different series prior to the release of this series onto the Catalogue. This series was given the reference number CRDA/41 when held by NDAD.
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Central Statistical Office, 1941-1996

Physical description: 2 datasets and documentation
Restrictions on use: The Company Accounts Analysis dataset and related dataset documentation are Crown Copyright; copies may be made for private study and research purposes only. Exemption from the Data Protection Act is claimed under Section 9 of the Statistics of Trade Act, cross-reference P016 and P068 under ONS group registration.
Access conditions: Open
Immediate source of acquisition:

In 2010 the United Kingdom National Digital Archive of Datasets

Custodial history: Originally transferred from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The United Kingdom National Digital Archive of Datasets (NDAD) then held the dataset until 2010 when it was transferred to The National Archives (TNA).
Accruals: No further accruals are expected.
Unpublished finding aids:

Extent of documentation: 9 documents, Dates of creation of documentation: 1985-1995

Administrative / biographical background:

The Company Accounts Analysis dataset was produced with the aim of generating and publishing regular, detailed analysis of published company accounts in Great Britain. The Business Statistics Office, who undertook this work for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), was also responsible for the production of Business Monitor periodicals. Business Monitor MA3: Company Finance was an annual HMSO periodical containing the analysed results of the industrial and commercial sectors covering up to 3,500 companies, including the top 2,000. Data from this dataset was used in the production of that periodical. The analysis could also be used to identify and monitor the progress of large companies, and give snapshots of merger and acquisition activity among GB companies; and make comparisons of accounting ratios.

The analysis was discontinued in 1992.

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