[31-03-2010] Background to the Northern Ireland Annual Business Inquiry
The Northern Ireland Annual Business Inquiry (NIABI) is an integrated survey that provides information on the value of the economic activity that businesses generate and associated expenditure across the main industrial sectors in Northern Ireland.
The NIABI provides a number of high level indicators of economic activity such as the total value of sales and work completed by businesses (Turnover), the value of the purchase of goods, materials and services and total employment costs. The contribution of different industries to the overall value of economic activity can be assessed and because estimates of employment are collected at the same time it is also possible to get a measure of value added and costs per head to allow better comparison between different sized industrial sectors.
The NIABI is designed to provide the best estimates for Northern Ireland as well as providing information that is used at a later stage to inform UK National and Regional Accounts estimates.
