FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

This sector includes banking institutions, accountants and financial services, lawyers, insurance companies, and temporary employment services.  The economic impact of border-dependent businesses and agencies is assessed in this section through the value of services purchased by these businesses and agencies from financial and professional service providers in Clinton County.

 Methodological Notes:

Lists of financial and professional service firms in Clinton County were provided by the Chamber.  These lists were augmented by YWA based on the final 1996 database and the members of the Canadian Connection Committee.  For the banking, accountants and financial services, lawyers, and insurance sectors, cover letters were prepared by prominent businesspersons from each sector on behalf of the Chamber.   The Chamber prepared a cover letter for the temporary employment sector.  YWA mailed a cover letter, a one-page survey form and the lists of Canadian-owned businesses, international border businesses and public sector border agencies located in Clinton County to each firm.  Firms were instructed to respond to the survey only with regard to business conducted with those organizations listed.  Responses regarding business conducted with Canadian-owned firms not located in Clinton County rely on the personal knowledge of the client base by a firm's manager.  No list of Canadian businesses outside of Clinton County was provided.  A copy of the correspondence packet and the mailing lists for each sector are included in the Appendix to this report. 

For the banking sector an initial phone call was made to inform the recipient of the study prior to mailing the correspondence.  For the categories of accounting, legal, and insurance, a phone call was made to those businesses that participated in 1996 prior to mailing the survey to update mailing addresses and contact persons as needed and to encourage the firm to participate in the 1998 replication. One week after each mailing, a follow-up call was made to each recipient to verify receipt and answer any questions.  A final call was made one month later to all non-responders, and, in particular to  request a response from the firms that had participated in previous studies to ensure consistent trend data.

 Overall, each sector has data analyzed and reported according to the change from 1996 to 1998 as reported by the total respondents in each study. Also for each sector, data from firms that participated in both 1996 and 1998 replication is analyzed and recorded.