Jeff Miller: “S. 2071 extends for 7 years the Quarterly Financial Report Program administered by the Secretary of Commerce. Current…”

“S. 2071 extends for 7 years the Quarterly Financial Report Program administered by the Secretary of Commerce. Current authorization for the program expires at the end of the fiscal year. The Quarterly Financial Report Program is a survey of businesses conducted by the Census Bureau that documents the financial conditions for manufacturing, mining, wholesale, and retail corporations each calendar quarter. The program has been in place continuously for more than 50 years, since 1947. It is a closely-watched principal economic indicator that provides critical data that are used in quarterly Gross Domestic Product estimates, as well as in the Flow of Funds account of the Federal Reserve and other official estimates. It also provides a performance benchmark that businesses use to assess their performance. The Quarterly Financial Report does not duplicate any other data. It differs from the data collected by the Securities and Exchange Commission, since it measures only domestic operations of publicly held corporations and includes data on privately held companies that otherwise would not be available.”