1992 CENSUS OF FINANCIAL, INSURANCE, AND REAL ESTATE INDUSTRIES

Coverage and Methodology

=>STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF ENUMERATION

Firms in the 1992 Census of Financial, Insurance, and Real Estate
Industries were divided into the nonmail universe and mail
universe.  The coverage and the method of obtaining census
information from each follow:


The nonmail universe consisted of firms which were not required
to file a regular census return and included:

All nonemployers, i.e., all firms with no paid employees during
1992.  Revenue information for these firms was obtained from
administrative records of other Federal agencies.  Although
consisting of many firms, nonemployers accounted for less than 6
percent of total revenue of all establishments covered in the
census.

The census included only those finance, insurance, and real
estate nonemployer firms which reported a minimum revenue volume
of $1,000 or more during 1992, plus firms in operation for less
than the full year that reported revenue which, if projected to
an annual basis, would have reached a total of $1,000 or more. 
Records with extremely large revenues were excluded.  The large
revenue was assumed to be unreasonable for firms without
employees.  It was assumed to be caused by errors in reporting or
data capture, or to cover activities conducted (and reported) by
firms with paid employees.  Standard upper limits were applied to
these industries, which may underestimate the number of
establishments and revenue of nonemployer firms.  In particular,
users may notice an apparent decrease in SIC 6552 from 1987 due
to the application of the upper size limit, which was not used
for this industry in the last census.

Data for nonemployers are included in this report. 

Selected small employers, i.e., single-establishment firms with
payroll below a specified cutoff classified in Major Group 64. 
(The term "employers" refers to firms with one or more paid
employees at any time during 1992 as shown in the active
administrative records of other Federal agencies.) Small
employers generally included firms with fewer than 10 employees
and represented about 20 percent of total revenue of
establishments in Major Group 64.

Data on revenue, payroll, and employment for employer firms below
the payroll cutoff were derived or estimated from administrative
records of other Federal agencies, except for a sample of small
employer firms in Major Group 64 for which specialized data
requirements precluded reliance solely on administrative records
sources.  This sample was included in the mail universe.

The mail universe consisted of firms for which information was
obtained by means of a mail canvass and included:

Large employers, i.e., all mulitestablishment firms, and all
employer firms above the payroll size cutoff referred to
previously.  Within this category, a report of company
organization was conducted periodically to identify establishment
locations of firms which operated at more than one location and
to obtain information on payroll and mid-March employment at each
location.  The 1991 Report of Company Organization was used as a
coverage check in the census.  In the 1992 census, all
multiestablishment firms were asked to notify the Census Bureau
of any establishments for which a form was not received.  Report
forms were subsequently provided to the firms for these
establishments.

In the 1992 census, multiestablishment firms were divided into
two categories of report forms, State and establishment.  Firms
with establishments classified in selected banking (SIC 60) and
insurance (SIC 63) industries were sent report forms to collect
information for each State in which those firms operated.  In
addition to the information reported in summary for the State,
those firms were asked to report the payroll and mid-March
employment for each establishment operated in the State.  All
other establishments of multiestablishment firms classified in
all other financial, insurance, and real estate industries were
sent individual report forms for each location.

All multiestablishment firms were asked to notify the Census
Bureau of any States or establishments for which a form was not
received.  Report forms were subsequently provided to the firms
for these States or establishments.

The sample of small employer firms in Major Group 64 for which
specialized data precluded reliance solely on administrative
records sources.  These firms were sent the census mailing
packages containing the appropriate 1992 questionnaire.

=>METHOD OF CLASSIFYING KINDS OF BUSINESS

The financial, insurance, and real estate industries
classifications for all establishments were based on the Standard
Industrial Classification Manual: 1987.   However, the method of
assigning these classifications, and the level of detail at which
establishments were classified, differed between the nonmail and
mail universes as follows:

The Nonmail Universe:

Nonemployers were classified on the basis of information obtained
from the administrative records of other Federal agencies.

Selected small employers in Major Group 64 were classified on the
basis of a brief inquiry requesting information necessary to
assign a 1992 census kind-of-business code, or the classification
was obtained from the administrative records of other Federal
agencies.

The Mail Universe:

Establishments in the mail universe were classified on the basis
of their self-designation, sources of revenue, and other special
inquiries.