1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2012
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/05/2012
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Statistics contained in the Year Book are the most recent available at the time of preparation. In many cases, the ABS website and the websites of other organisations provide access to more recent data. Each Year Book table or graph and the bibliography at the end of each chapter provides hyperlinks to the most up to date data release where available.
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PUBLIC SECTOR
The System of National Accounts has been updated and the 2008 System of National Accounts (2008 SNA) was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission in February 2009. The 2008 SNA was implemented in Australia’s National Accounts from September quarter 2009 and this has resulted in two changes to Australia’s GFS. Defence Weapons Platforms (DWP) have been capitalised to align with the 2008 SNA from September quarter 2009 and time series have been revised. This change affected the Commonwealth General Government Operating Statement, Cash Flow Statement and Balance Sheet.
The alignment of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to the 2008 SNA treatment was introduced in the 2009–10 year and time series have been revised. SDRs are international reserve assets created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and allocated to its members to supplement existing reserve assets. This change means that counterpart liabilities are now recorded to match the value of the SDRs allocated by the IMF to Australia. Previously, SDRs allocated by the IMF were recorded in the Australian GFS as financial assets with no corresponding liabilities and were initially brought onto the balance sheet with matching ‘other economic flow’ entries. This has affected the Commonwealth General Government Balance Sheet.
The Australian System of Government Finance Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods (5514.0, 5514.0.55.001) has been updated to reflect these changes. The GFSM 2001 will be revised to reflect the 2008 SNA and, although the IMF review of the GFSM has commenced, timing of release of the revised GFSM is unknown at this stage. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) GFS will be updated to reflect the new international standard after the revised IMF GFSM is available.
PUBLIC SECTOR
The public sector includes all organisations owned or controlled by any of the three levels of government within the Australian political system – Australian (Commonwealth), state (and territory), and local. The responsibilities of each level of government differ and each level has specific sources of revenue with which to fund its activities.
In the Australian system of government finance statistics (GFS), a fourth level of government is also identified – multi-jurisdictional. The multi-jurisdictional sector contains units where jurisdiction is shared between two or more governments, or where classification of a unit to a jurisdiction is otherwise unclear. The main type of units currently falling into the multi-jurisdictional category are the public universities.
The public sector can be divided into three institutional sectors that group organisations with similar characteristics:
Within GFS, the consolidated total of the general government, the PNFCs and the PFCs sectors is referred to as the 'total public sector'.
The GFS framework is divided into three separate financial statements, each of which is designed to draw out analytical aggregates, or balances of particular economic significance. Taken together, they provide a comprehensive description of the financial positions of levels of government and jurisdictions, both individually and collectively. These statements are the operating statement, the cash flow statement and the balance sheet.
The operating statement presents details of transactions in GFS revenues, GFS expenses and the net acquisition of non-financial assets on an accrual basis for an accounting period. Two key GFS analytical balances in the operating statement are GFS net operating balance (NOB) and GFS net lending/borrowing. GFS NOB is the difference between GFS revenues and GFS expenses and reflects the sustainability of government operations. GFS net lending/borrowing is equal to NOB minus the net acquisition of non-financial assets. A positive result reflects a net lending position while a negative result reflects a net borrowing position.
The cash flow statement identifies how cash is generated and applied in a single accounting period. It reflects a cash basis of recording, where the information has been derived indirectly from underlying accrued transactions and movements in balances. In effect, this means that transactions are captured when cash is received or when cash payments are made. Cash transactions are especially identified because they allow the compilation of the cash-based surplus/deficit measure and because the management of cash is considered an integral function of accrual accounting. The cash based surplus/deficit is a broad indicator of cash flow requirements. When it is positive (i.e. in surplus), it reflects the extent to which cash is available to government to either increase its financial assets or decrease its liabilities. When it is negative (i.e. in deficit), it is a measure of the extent to which government requires cash, by running down its financial assets or by drawing on the cash reserves of the domestic economy, or from overseas.
The balance sheet is the statement of financial position for a sector at a specific point in time. It shows the assets, liabilities and GFS net worth. GFS net worth is an economic measure of wealth. For the general government sector, it is calculated as assets less liabilities. For the PNFC and PFC sectors, GFS net worth is calculated as assets less liabilities less shares and other contributed capital.
Tables 28.1 and 28.2 show major aggregates for general government and the total public sector.
Tables 28.3 to 28.8 show operating and cash flow statements and the 30 June balance sheet results across different levels of government for the general government and the total public sectors from 2005–06 to 2009–10.
GFS net borrowing in 2009–10 was $71.4 billion for the general government sector (tables 28.1 and 28.3) and $93.4 billion for the total public sector (tables 28.2 and 28.4).
Table 28.4 shows GFS operating statement aggregates for the total public sector for all levels of government. For the Commonwealth Government, GFS revenue decreased by $11.9 billion (–4%) from $309.9 billion in 2008–09 to $298.0 billion in 2009–10. GFS expenses increased by $15.3b (5%) from $333.2b to $348.5b. As a result, GFS net operating balance decreased by $27.2b from $–23.3b in 2008–09 to $–50.4b in 2009–10.
For the state and territory governments, total public sector, GFS revenue increased by $27.7b (13%) from $215.4b in 2008–09 to $243.1b in 2009–10. GFS expenses increased by $21.5b (10%) from $217.0b to $238.5b. As a result, GFS net operating balance increased by $6.2b from $–1.6b in 2008–09 to $4.6b in 2009–10.
For the total, All levels of government, total public sector, GFS revenue increased by $2.2b from $472.1b in 2008–09 to $474.4b in 2009–10. GFS expenses increased by $23.1b (5%) from $493.9b to $517.0b. As a result, the GFS net operating balance decreased by $20.9b from $–21.8b in 2008–09 to $–42.7b in 2009–10.
Table 28.5 shows the general government cash flow statement for all levels of government. For the Commonwealth Government, the cash flow statement deficit increased by $29.0 billion from $–23.5 billion in 2008–09 to $–52.4 billion in 2009–10. For the state and territory governments, the cash flow statement deficit increased by $4.5b from $–6.4b in 2008–09 to $–10.9b in 2009–10.
For the total, All levels of government, general government, the cash flow statement deficit increased by $36.5b from $–32.1b in 2008–09 to $–68.6b in 2009–10.
Table 28.6 shows the total public sector cash flow statement for all levels of government. For the Commonwealth Government, the cash operating deficit increased by $33.6 billion from $–23.5 billion in 2008–09 to $–57.1 billion in 2009–10. For the state and territory governments, total public sector, the cash operating deficit decreased by $1.3b from $–25.3b in 2008–09 to $–24.0b in 2009–10.
For the total, All levels of government, total public sector, the cash operating deficit increased by $35.2b from $–51.0b in 2008–09 to $–86.2b in 2009–10.
Table 28.7 shows the general government balance sheet for all levels of government. For the Commonwealth Government, the GFS net worth decreased by $68.6 billion from $27.1 billion in 2008–09 to $–41.6 billion in 2009–10. For the state and territory governments, general government, the GFS net worth increased by $25.5b from $601.7b to $627.2b.
For the total, All levels of government, general government, the GFS net worth decreased by $4.9b from $937.4b to $932.5b.
Table 28.8 shows the total public sector balance sheet for all levels of government. For the Commonwealth Government, the GFS net worth decreased by $68.6 billion from $27.1 billion in 2008–09 to $–41.6 billion in 2009–10. For the state and territory governments, total public sector, the GFS net worth increased by $25.5b from $601.7b to $627.2b.
For the total, All levels of government, total public sector, the GFS net worth decreased by $4.9b from $937.4b to $932.5b.