BE-185 Supporting Statement B 2024_Final

Supporting Statement

U.S. Department of Commerce

Bureau of Economic Analysis

Quarterly Survey of Financial Services Transactions between

U.S. Financial Services Providers and Foreign Persons (Form BE-185)

OMB Control Number: 0608-0065

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods

1. Describe (including a numerical estimate) the potential respondent universe and any sampling or other respondent selection method to be used. Data on the number of entities (e.g. establishments, State and local governmental units, households, or persons) in the universe and the corresponding sample are to be provided in tabular form for the universe as a whole and for each of the strata in the proposed sample. Indicate expected response rates for the collection as a whole. If the collection had been conducted previously, include the actual response rate achieved during the last collection.

The potential respondent universe for the BE-185 quarterly survey is all U.S. persons that engaged in covered financial services transactions with foreign persons. A person must report if it had combined sales of covered financial services to foreign persons that exceeded $20 million for the previous fiscal year, or are expected to exceed that amount during the current fiscal year, or if they had combined purchases of covered financial services from foreign persons that exceeded $15 million for the previous fiscal year, or are expected to exceed that amount during the current fiscal year. The list of respondents will be derived from prior reporters of the BE-185 and BE-180 surveys and public and private sources, including business directories and establishment lists.

BE-185 Universe, Sample, and Response Rate

	Number of U.S. persons engaging in covered transactions	Percent of U.S. persons engaging in covered transactions
Universe Sample Nonsample Report exemption claim or voluntary data Response rate*	4,900 580 5,100 135	100% 12% 85% 3% 95%

*The response rate is based on average response rates for the 2021-2024 BE-185 survey.

2. Describe the procedures for the collection, including: the statistical methodology for stratification and sample selection; the estimation procedure; the degree of accuracy needed for the purpose described in the justification; any unusual problems requiring specialized sampling procedures; and any use of periodic (less frequent than annual) data collection cycles to reduce burden.

The BE-185 survey will be administered to U.S. financial services companies that have financial services transactions with foreign persons, who meet the reporting thresholds for sales and purchases, as mentioned in B.1. above. BEA expects most of the potential respondents to file the survey on a timely basis. BEA will estimate data for respondents that do not report their data in a timely manner, including those U.S. persons that fall below the reporting threshold for the quarterly survey but reported on a previous benchmark survey. Estimates will be based on prior reports and growth in the value of transactions from a matched sample of respondents. BEA will allocate the estimated data by country and by type of transaction based on the distribution of reported transactions for inclusion in the published totals. Thus, estimates will cover the entire universe of transactions. No unusual problems have been identified that would require the use of specialized sampling procedures. For additional information on BEA’s estimation techniques for the BE-185 survey, see “U.S. International Economic Accounts: Concepts and Methods” on BEA’s website.

3. Describe the methods used to maximize response rates and to deal with issues of non-response. The accuracy and reliability of the information collected must be shown to be adequate for the intended uses. For collections based on sampling, a special justification must be provided for any collection that will not yield "reliable" data that can be generalized to the universe studied.

Any company specifically contacted by BEA must respond by filing a completed form BE-185 or a valid exemption claim. To facilitate response, a notice will be sent to each company at the end of each quarter notifying the company of the requirement to file the survey and providing links to eFile, BEA’s electronic filing system, and a PDF version of the survey.

Delinquency notices will also be mailed to companies that have failed to report after the due date for the survey has passed to ensure a high response rate. BEA staff will also call required U.S. companies to remind them of the requirement to comply with the survey and offer filing assistance to those who may need it, and in the event of continued nonresponse, may be referred to the Office of General Counsel for further action. BEA expects that at the time of the final revised estimates, reports will be received from nearly all companies required to report.

The response rates described in B.1., together with the estimation procedures described in B.2., provide information of sufficient accuracy and reliability for the intended purpose.

4. Describe any tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken. Tests are encouraged as effective means of refining collections of information to minimize burden and improve utility. Tests must be approved if they call for answers to identical questions from 10 or more respondents. A proposed test or set of tests may be submitted for approval separately or in combination with the main collection of information.

No tests were conducted. Recent efforts to seek feedback from data users and survey respondents are described in A.8.

5. Provide the name and telephone number of individuals consulted on the statistical aspects of the design, and the name of the agency unit, contractor(s), grantee(s), or other person(s) who will actually collect and/or analyze the information for the agency.

The survey is designed and conducted within BEA by the Balance of Payments Division. For further information, contact Christopher Stein via email at christopher.stein@bea.gov or by phone at 301-278-9189. The survey proposal was reviewed and approved by BEA’s Source Data Improvement and Evaluation Program (SDIEP). The SDIEP coordinator is Tiffany Burrell, tiffany.burrell@bea.gov, (301) 278-9618.