Burden of surveys less than imagined at €10m

BUSINESSES face a far lesser burden than they imagine in responding to statistical surveys – a report by the CSO put the cost at €10m a year.

Filling in CSO forms cost Irish companies an estimated €10.8m in 2008, and €10.5m in 2007, according to the latest Standard Cost Model issued by the CSO yesterday.

Assessed using the Eurostat model preferred by the European Union (EU), the CSO’s burden costs just €7.7m to Irish businesses.

This €7.7m figure accounts for just 0.4% of the total €2bn administrative burden which businesses face in their dealings with the collective government departments, such as the Revenue Commissioners and the Companies Registration Office. This equates to around €16 per business surveyed.

“The perception among businesses of a burden in completing CSO forms is very different from the reality,” said CSO Administrative Data Centre statistician John Hayes.

“That said we are still very concerned about reducing that cost. We gather a lot of information from other government departments, like the Revenue, and having that information can help us eliminate some entire surveys or at least eliminate some of the questions.

“The reality is that business people have a lesser perception of the burden of, say, filing their tax returns. They know that non-compliance there would mean breaking the law. But they don’t have the same perception of gathering statistical information.”