Business Indicators Survey

NAME OF ORGANISATION
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

OVERVIEW
The Quarterly Economic Activity Survey is a quarterly survey which produces estimates of profits, selected income items including sales, selected expenses including labour costs, and inventories, by private businesses in Australia.

PURPOSE
This survey provides key measures on the performance of Australian industry, and is an important component of the quarterly National Accounts. The data contributes to the production of the income-based and production-based measures of Gross Domestic Product, in particular, estimates of gross operating surplus of private non-financial corporations, the increase in the book value of non-farm inventories, and industry gross value added. The data are used by economic analysts in the private and public sectors.

SCOPE
The following industries are in scope of the Quarterly Economic Activity Survey from the March quarter 2001:
B. Mining;
C. Manufacturing;
D. Electricity, Gas and Water supply;
E. Construction;
F. Wholesale trade;
G. Retail trade;
H. Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants;
I. Transport and Storage;
J. Communication Services;
K. Finance and Insurance (excluding ANZSIC Classes 7310, 7411 and 7412).
L. Property and Business Services;
N. Education;
O. Health and community services;
P. Cultural and Recreational Services;
Q. Personal and other services (excluding ANZSIC Subdivision 97).

DATA DETAIL

Conceptual framework
Standard ABS integrated economic statistics framework.

Main outputs
Population:
All management units in the private sector of the Australian economy, except for Agriculture, forestry and fishing; General government; Life insurance; Superannuation funds; and, Private households employing staff.

Characteristics of interest:
Financial data particularly sales, labour costs, inventories and profits.

Type of statistics:
Quarterly movements and level estimates; a limited number of ratios; original, seasonally adjusted and trend series; and, chain volume and current price estimates.

Data breakdowns:
Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) sub-division for sales, labour costs, inventories and profits; state/territory for sales and wages and salaries; and, institutional sector for use in the National Accounts.

Classifications
Industry: Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification 1993 (ANZSIC)
Institutional sector: Standard Institutional Sector Classification of Australia (SISCA)

Other concepts (summary)
Not applicable

GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL
1. National & State/Territory\1.01 Australia
1. National & State/Territory\1.02 All States & Territories

Comments and/or Other Regions
Only Income from Sales of Goods and Services, and Wages and Salaries are collected/available by state/territory.

COLLECTION FREQUENCY
Quarterly

Frequency comments


COLLECTION HISTORY
The Quarterly Economic Activity Survey (QEAS) involves the integration of samples, questionnaires, data processing and data dissemination for the surveys of Company Profits (SCP); Inventories, Sales and Services (ISS); and the private sector component of Employment and Earnings (SEE).
From September quarter 1999 to June quarter 2000, large businesses common to the existing SCP, ISS and New Capital Expenditure surveys, were progressively included in QEAS. As these businesses were included in the existing surveys, there were no changes to sample design, processing and estimation methods, or the data released. The survey was essentially a single collection vehicle for these units.
From March quarter 2001, the survey was extended to small and medium businesses. To ensure that the impact of QEAS on time series is minimised, SCP, ISS and SEE were conducted in parallel, with the March quarter estimates generated from these surveys and not QEAS. SCP and ISS were discontinued after the March quarter 2001, with QEAS being the sole source of information for data previously collected in these surveys. The existing publications continued up to and including the September quarter 2001. The private sector component of SEE was discontinued after the December quarter 2001. From the March quarter 2002, outputs from QEAS included labour cost items currently included in the private sector component of SEE. From March quarter 2001, the Survey of New Capital Expenditure hasl run separately to QEAS, and units selected in both surveys will receive separate survey forms.

DATA AVAILABILITY
Yes