INTRODUCTION OF NEW STANDARDS AND CLASSIFICATIONS

September quarter 2009 saw the introduction of new international standards and new industry and sector classifications into the quarterly Australian National Accounts. These changes have resulted in revisions to the entire national accounts time series. The standards and classifications introduced are:

• System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA08),
• Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, sixth edition (BPM6),
• Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification, 2006 (ANZSIC06) (cat. no. 1292.0), and
• Standard Economic Sector Classifications of Australia, 2008 (SESCA08) (cat. no. 1218.0).

The changes being implemented have impacted on the value of some key aggregates, and data quality improvements have also resulted in a shift in the level of some series. Level shifts have been backcast to the start of the respective time series.

Changes have been made to components of private gross fixed capital formation:

• 'Cultivated biological resources' replaces the previously published 'Livestock', and includes a new component of 'Orchard growth'; and
• 'Intellectual property products' replaces the previously published 'Intangible fixed assets', and includes a new component of 'Research and development'.

Further information and discussion on the introduction of these new standards and classifications can be found in Information Paper: Implementation of new international standards in ABS National and International Accounts, September 2009 (cat. no. 5310.0.55.002).

A revised Australian National Accounts: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 5216.0) is scheduled for release in late 2010. This product describes the underlying concepts and structure of the national accounts, and the sources, methods and terms used in compiling the estimates. However, the current (2000) version reflects SNA93 concepts and a number of references to data sources and methods will now be out of date.

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