Review of Scottish business surveys [March 2015]

Business surveys are a useful tool and provide accurate and timely data that are extremely helpful in pinpointing subtle movements in the economy. Business surveys collect information on a wide range of topics such as business confidence, orders, turnover, exports, investment, employment etc. and when analysed provide a view of the overall economy. They are also useful for short term forecasting and pinpointing turning points. Many business surveys use net balances, determined by subtracting the percentage reporting declines from the percentages reporting increases. A number of recent surveys show that more and more businesses report that net trends, although remaining positive, have eased somewhat (with a growing number of respondents reporting ‘no change’) nevertheless most remain above pre-recession levels.