How to Read the Census Quarterly Financial Report — Corporate Profits, Confidence Intervals and Operating vs After-Tax Income

As of 29 October 2026 (KST); most recently published report: Quarterly Financial Report: U.S. Manufacturing, Mining, Wholesale Trade, and Selected Service Industries, Second Quarter 2026, released by the U.S. Census Bureau at 10:00 a.m. EDT on September 8, 2026 (CB26-144). The release says: "The Third Quarter 2026 Quarterly Financial Report for Manufacturing, Mining, Trade, and Selected Service Industries is scheduled for release on December 7, 2026." Primary source: https://www2.census.gov/econ/qfr/press/qfr262mg.pdf^[1][3]

Comparison basis: dollar levels are the published figures in billions, and changes are the published estimates with their 90 percent confidence intervals in parentheses. The release explains: "Estimates of change presented in this press release are calculated using unrounded data." "The calculated difference is then rounded to the nearest unit of measure." "Due to this rounding, differences may not add to the totals." The profit-per-dollar changes are this page's subtraction of the rounded published ratios. Manufacturing covers corporations with assets of $5 million and over, the other sectors those with $50 million and over. The release, release page, schedule and program pages are all from the Census Bureau and count as one source.^[1]

In three lines

1. The Quarterly Financial Report estimates sales, profits and balance sheets of U.S. corporations in manufacturing, mining, wholesale trade and selected services from about 8,000 company reports.
2. As published on September 8, 2026, seasonally adjusted manufacturing after-tax profits were $359.4 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up $64.1 (±1.2) billion from the first quarter.
3. Third-quarter 2026 figures are scheduled for December 7, 2026.^[1][3]

"U.S. manufacturing corporations' seasonally adjusted after-tax profits in the second quarter of 2026 totaled $359.4 billion, up $64.1 (±1.2) billion from the after-tax profits of $295.2 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2026, and up $143.8 (±2.8) billion from the after-tax profits of $215.6 billion recorded in the second quarter of 2025." "Seasonally adjusted sales for the quarter totaled $2,324.1 billion, up $194.0 (±9.6) billion from the $2,130.1 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2026, and up $343.7 (±26.2) billion from the $1,980.3 billion recorded in the second quarter of 2025."^[1]

Who is covered. "Manufacturing corporations are in-scope if they have domestic assets of $5 million and over." "Mining, wholesale trade, retail trade, and selected service industries are in-scope if they have domestic assets of $50 million and over." "Corporations report for each of their fiscal quarters and are included in published calendar quarter estimates depending on the month their books are closed." "Each quarter, one-eighth of the sample panel is replaced."^[4]

Why it matters. "The QFR data are a primary source for current estimates of corporate profits for the Nation's Gross Domestic Income Accounts." For ratios, the definitions page describes the return on equity this way: "This ratio measures the rate of return that accrues to stockholders on their investment." The release gives manufacturing an annual-rate return on equity of 20.33% in the second quarter of 2026, not seasonally adjusted.^[4][5]

Rounded levels vs published change. Subtracting the rounded levels ($359.4 billion minus $295.2 billion) gives $64.2 billion, but the release says $64.1 billion; Table 2 shows 359,388 and 295,242 million dollars, a difference of 64,146 million that rounds to $64.1 billion (this page's calculation). The published change, not the difference of rounded levels, is the figure to use.^[1]

Operating vs after-tax profits. A table note defines: "Operating profits are profits before nonoperating income, expense items, and income taxes." In the second quarter of 2026, not seasonally adjusted, manufacturing after-tax profits ($370.1 billion) exceeded operating profits ($302.9 billion), and for computer and electronic products after-tax profits were $156.0 billion against operating profits of $68.0 billion (Table 6). This release does not explain the components of the gap.^[1]

Change vs confidence interval. "If the range of estimated change contains zero (0), then it is uncertain whether there is an increase or decrease; that is, the change is not statistically different from zero (0)." Professional and technical services show the case: "Professional and Technical Services corporations' (except Legal Services) seasonally adjusted after-tax profits in the second quarter of 2026 totaled $0.8 billion, not statistically different from the after-tax losses of $0.3 billion in the first quarter of 2026, and not statistically different from the after-tax losses of $1.2 billion in the second quarter of 2025."^[1]

Response vs imputation. For manufacturing, the total quantity response rate for net sales was 87.5% and the unit response rate 56.4%; the release's table footnote defines the imputation rate as 100% minus the total quantity response rate, which gives 12.5% for net sales (this page's calculation). "Although no direct measures of nonsampling error are available, precautionary steps were taken in all phases of the collection, processing, and tabulation of the data in an effort to minimize their influence."^[1]

Disclosure avoidance. "All releases for the Quarterly Financial Report (QFR) beginning with September 8, 2026 (2026Q2) will implement disclosure avoidance in compliance with Department of Commerce DAO 216-26."^[1]

Seasonal adjustment. Seasonally adjusted series are published for profits and sales of manufacturing and of professional and technical services, and for sales of wholesale trade and information; mining, wholesale trade and information profits appear only without seasonal adjustment in the release.^[1]