A survey of production is conducted by a government, of businesses within its jurisdiction, to obtain economic data needed for the compilation of national accounts, and other purposes.
Typically, information is requested on the business's purchases, output, sales, capital expenditures and numbers of workers employed.
Although the yearbook's main focus was on import-export trade, it contained some information on domestic commercial activities.
Although the 1906 Census of Productions Bill was introduced by David Lloyd George and had opposition support from Joseph Chamberlain, it was met with considerable suspicion by manufacturers, and several Members of Parliament expressed concerns about it, including that the manufacturers were "sacrificing their liberty to a gang of clerks in Downing street.
[citation needed] The unit for the Census was the "establishment", essentially a single business location, although minor ancillaries such as offices, warehouses, laboratories, and canteens, could be subsumed under it.