We measure the impact of our programs' performance. We took an extensive look at this in our last five-year report to Parliament, which ran from 2008 to 2013.
With respect to our macro impact on labour productivity, we worked with Statistics Canada to distinguish the firms that have received ACOA assistance from similar firms that did not receive ACOA assistance. As a result of this analysis, we concluded that labour productivity among ACOA-assisted firms was 7.3% higher than it was in non-assisted firms. Additionally, sales growth for ACOA-assisted firms was 3.9% higher than it was in non-assisted firms. These two factors combined to improve the overall survival rate of the firms we assisted. We also measured the five-year survival rate of firms. We found that longevity of SMEs was 9% higher in ACOA-assisted firms than it was in non-assisted firms.