Much of what we know about the capital budgeting routines of majorcorporations derives from postal surveys sent to the head office. This articlecompares the results gained from such surveys with those obtained fromanalyses of investment manuals and interviews with corporate managers incharge of the capital budgeting routines of their groups. The analyses suggestthat the value of postal surveys can be substantially improved if information isalso collected on to whom and to which parts of the organization anadministrative routine is applicable, and on whether it is to be found in awritten and approved document; where the routine is applied, by whom, andhow strictly.