Abstract

In South Africa the production of official financial statistics is currently based on survey data. In recent years there has been considerable research on the use of administrative data to compliment or replace survey data with a long term view of reducing the costs of data collection. These two sources of data, when combined, may have great potential to increase both the quality and quantity of official statistics produced. This study examines the challenges of combining or replacing survey data with administrative data. The research presents a cross sectional analysis of matched unit data on turnover and other key financial variables obtained from an administrative source and data collected by a survey