5256.0 - Australian National Accounts: Non-Profit Institutions Satellite Account, 2006-07  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 18/09/2009   
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APPENDIX 6 DATA SOURCES AND COMPILATION METHODS


INTRODUCTION

The NPI satellite account has been compiled from a variety of data sources, including ABS economic and social collections. The sources used to compile the various data contained in the satellite account are outlined below.


MONETARY AGGREGATES

The bulk of the data contained in the NPI satellite account are monetary aggregates. This includes data about income, use of income, capital expenditure and asset stocks, as well as the national accounting measures of output of goods and services and gross value added . The data used to compile this information were taken from the ABS publication Not-for-profit Organisations Australia, 2006-07 (cat. no. 8106.0). This publication presents the results of a survey of all employing and significant non employing non-profit organisations which collected a range of information from a sample of these organisations, including detailed information about their financial performance over the reporting period. Information from the ABS Business Register of organisations was used to compile data about the number of non-profit organisations.

Micro non employing non-profit organisations with turnover below a set threshold were excluded from the scope of Not-for-profit Organisations Australia, 2006-07. Information for these organisations was therefore taken from Business Activity Statement (BAS) data as collected by the Australian Taxation Office. Data available from BAS records included in the satellite account relate to sales and service income, wages and salaries and non capitalised purchases. Data for other survey questionnaire items, including transfers and donations paid and received, was were available from BAS records, nor was a suitable imputation method apparent for these items.


EMPLOYMENT AND VOLUNTEERS

Data in respect of permanent full time, permanent part time and casual paid employees of NPIs were taken from Not-for-profit Organisations Australia, 2006-07. Given the nature of the administrative arrangements for deducting tax with respect to paid employees, the ABN based survey frame should cover all employing NPIs.

Not-for-profit Organisations Australia, 2006-07 also collected information as to the number of volunteers that each organisation surveyed reported had worked for their organisation during the reporting period. However, more detailed information on volunteering is available from the ABS publication Voluntary Work, Australia 2006 (Cat. no. 4441.0). The estimates presented in the Voluntary Work, Australia 2006 publication are based on a household survey which collected detailed information about the activities undertaken by volunteers and their personal characteristics. This survey methodology is very different to that used in the Not-for-profit Organisations Australia, 2006-07 publication, which is based on a survey of businesses/organisations that focussed on collecting information about the financial performance of these organisations over the reporting period. Given the different survey collection methods, it was considered that the data on the number of volunteers contained in the Voluntary Work Australia, 2006 publication provided a more complete analysis of volunteer activity and would be used in the satellite account. Data on the number of annual hours volunteered was also taken from Voluntary Work Australia, 2006.


VOLUNTEER SERVICES

The compilation of data about the value of volunteer services involved taking information on the annual hours volunteered from the Voluntary Work Australia, 2006 publication and assigning a wage rate to each of those hours. Information on wages and average weekly hours worked was taken from the ABS publication Employee Earnings and Hours Australia, May 2006 (Cat. no. 6306.0). As detailed in the discussion contained in the conceptual framework, the Handbook recommends three alternative methods for estimating the value of volunteer services. The compilation of each of these methods and the different results generated are outlined below.

Valuation method
Volunteer services ($b)
Full-time equivalent persons
Opportunity cost
16.2
312 500
Replacement cost
14.6
317 200
Fallback option
14.6
313 400


The first valuation method described in the Handbook is the opportunity cost approach. Under this method, the appropriate wage rate to apply to each volunteer hour is what the volunteer could earn in their usual occupation. Data on the number of hours volunteered, classified by the usual occupation of the volunteer, was obtained from Voluntary Work Australia, 2006. Occupation categories are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, First edition (Cat. no. 1220.0). The number of hours volunteered for each occupation category was then multiplied by the relevant wage rate for that occupation category. For each valuation method described, calculations were done separately for males and females and the average ordinary time hourly rate for non managerial employees was used. Where the volunteer did not nominate a usual occupation, for example they were retired or not in the labour force, the average wage rate for all occupation categories was applied. The opportunity cost approach valued total volunteer services at $16.2 billion. In addition, the total number of volunteer hours are able to be converted to full time equivalents by dividing hours volunteered by the average ordinary time hours worked in full time occupations associated with each occupation category. Full time equivalents will therefore vary with each valuation method, depending on the occupation categories used. Full time equivalents under the opportunity cost approach were 312,500 persons.

The second valuation method noted in the Handbook is the replacement cost approach. Under this method, the appropriate wage rate to apply to each volunteer hour is that associated with the activity being undertaken by the volunteer. Voluntary Work Australia, 2006 does not contain information about the number of hours volunteered by each type of activity, so a single wage rate was applied to each volunteer hour under this method. This wage rate was calculated in a two step process. Firstly, volunteer activities were matched to occupation categories to determine a wage rate for each activity. For some volunteer activities, more than one occupation category was matched to the activity and in these instances an average of the relevant occupations was used. The second step was to weight the results for each activity to calculate a single weighted average wage rate. This weighted average wage for all activities was then applied to each volunteer hour to calculate the value of volunteer services. Weights for each activity were based on the actual number of volunteer involvements associated with the activity compared with the average number of involvements for all activities. The value of volunteer services calculated using the replacement cost method have been included in the satellite account, as this valuation method was considered the most appropriate. As seen in table 14 of the satellite account, volunteer services under this method were $14.6 billion and full time equivalents were 317,200 persons. When volunteering for government and other organisations is added in order to value volunteering for all organisations, volunteer services under this method were $16.5 billion and full time equivalents were 359,700 persons.

The Handbook recognises that data necessary to populate the opportunity or replacement cost approaches will not be available in all countries. Where detailed data on volunteering is not available, the Handbook recommends a fallback option which values each hour of volunteer time at the average gross wage for the community, welfare and social service occupation category. Under this approach, volunteer services were valued at $14.6 billion and full time equivalents were 313,400 persons. While by coincidence the value of volunteer services under this approach when rounded is the same as that generated under the replacement cost approach, the number of full time equivalents differ under each approach as the average weekly hours worked in the relevant occupation categories are different.