5676.0 - Business Indicators, Australia, Sep 2001  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 30/01/2002   
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NEW QUARTERLY PUBLICATION - Business Indicators, Australia

Enclosed is the first issue of a new ABS publication that will present quarterly estimates of income from sales of goods and services, wages and salaries, company profits and inventories. This first issue contains data for September quarter 2001 which are generally consistent with data already released in other publications, however there are a number of important changes which are discussed below. This issue is being provided so that you can become familiar with the new publication before the December quarter 2001 issue is released.

Details of the new publication

The new publication is called Business Indicators, Australia (ABS Cat. no. 5676.0) and will retail for $22.00. The publication is scheduled for release two days prior to the release of the Australian national accounts. If you wish to receive future copies of this publication and have not yet subscribed to it (notices for the renewal of subscriptions to ABS publications and products for 2002 were circulated in November) please contact ABS Subscription Services on 1300 366 323, or email subscriptions@abs.gov.au or by fax on (03) 9615 7848.

Publications being replaced

The following publications were released for the last time in respect of September quarter 2001, and will not be released in the future:

  • Company Profits, Australia (ABS Cat. no. 5651.0), and
  • Inventories and Sales, Selected Industries, Australia (ABS Cat. no. 5629.0).

In addition, after the December quarter 2001 issue, estimates of employment and wages and salaries for the private sector will no longer be included in Wage and Salary Earners, Australia (ABS Cat. No. 6248.0).

Why change the current publications?

An information paper, Improvements to ABS Quarterly Business Indicators (ABS Cat. no. 5677.0), released in July 2001 provides the background to the introduction of this new publication. In summary, a number of changes have been made to data collection arrangements so as to improve the quality of source data for quarterly business statistics and the national accounts. The changes will also lead to reduced compliance cost on small businesses. This new publication consolidates the statistical series resulting from these changes.

What has changed?

Data previously released in Company Profits, Australia and Inventories and Sales, Selected Industries, Australia will continue to be available although not all the data will be presented in the publication. The changes introduced are detailed in the Attachment. The main changes are:
  • estimates of income from sales of goods and services provided for an expanded range of industries,
  • state/territory data provided for income from sales of goods and services, and wages and salaries,
  • the coverage of company profits increased to companies with 20 or more employees (but the range of data items included in the publication has been rationalised),
  • seasonally adjusted and trend estimates by industry provided for the recently introduced experimental 'underlying' profits measure (now titled company gross operating profits),
  • Manufacturing subdivision data no longer included in the publication for inventories or income from sales of goods and services or profits (but will continue to be available on request),
  • increased coverage for some industries that were previously only partly covered (generally the improved coverage does not have a significant impact on the series), and
  • the introduction of a different seasonal adjustment methodology for inventories and income from sales of goods and services.

The series in Inventories and Sales, Selected Industries, Australia used a different seasonal adjustment methodology to the series in Company Profits, Australia. The methodology previously used for the company profits series is considered to produce more accurate initial seasonally adjusted estimates and will be used for all seasonally adjusted series in Business Indicators, Australia. As a result, the seasonally adjusted and trend estimates presented in the attached issue for inventories and income from sales of goods and services may differ from those presented in the September quarter 2001 issue of Inventories and Sales, Selected Industries, Australia. The new methodology is explained in paragraph 25 of the Explanatory Notes.

To accommodate the range of data now available, the information on the front cover and the information in the main features have been revised.

If you require employment data

Business Indicators, Australia will present Wage and salaries data but will not present employment data. Other sources of employment data include:
    Labour Force, Australia (ABS Cat. no. 6203.0) for employment data (for the public and private sectors combined), and/or
    Wage and Salary Earners, Australia (ABS Cat. No. 6248.0) for employment and wage and salary data for the public sector.

ABS data available on request

The series included in Business Indicators, Australia can generally be provided at a more detailed industry level for the Manufacturing industry and for most other industries. Data on some other items (eg Depreciation, Interest paid and Interest received) and some derived items are also available. All data are subject to confidentiality and quality checks before release. If you are interested in purchasing ABS data available on request, please contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.

It is intended that the additional series and changes in presentation will assist users in better understanding reasons for changing patterns of economic activity. If you have any queries or feedback on the content after looking at the new publication, please contact Mark Wise on (02) 9268 4241 or by email to <mark.wise@abs.gov.au>.

Peter Harper
Head
Economic Accounts Division
30 January 2002


Attachment

Changes introduced with Business Indicators, Australia

1. Income from sales of goods and services

1.1 Income from sales of goods and services is presented for the Manufacturing and Wholesale industries and for the industries for which experimental estimates have been previously presented. Data for these additional industries will continue to be considered experimental until the seasonally adjusted series can be analysed. In addition, from March quarter 2001, experimental estimates of income from sales of goods and services will also be presented for several additional industries (Mining, Electricity, gas and water, Construction and selected parts of the finance industry).

1.2 Previous estimates of income from sales of goods and services for the Retail, Accommodation, cafes and restaurants and Personal services industries excluded those parts of the industries covered by monthly Retail trade statistics. These parts of the industries have now been included and historical data have been generated using monthly Retail trade data.

1.3 Three ANZSIC classes (Libraries, Museums and Parks and gardens) have been included in estimates for the Cultural and recreational services division from March quarter 2001. The inclusion of these ANZSIC classes has increased the level of income from sales of goods and services for this division by about 1% and care should be taken when making year on year comparisons spanning the March quarter 2001.

1.4 The December quarter 2001 issue will present, for the first time, original, (experimental) seasonally adjusted and trend series in both current price and volume terms for the industries for which experimental estimates are currently presented.

1.5 Data on detailed manufacturing industries will not be included in the publication and will only be available on request, as will detailed data for other industries.

1.6 The December quarter 2001 issue will also present, for the first time, State/territory estimates of income from sales of goods and services. Experimental seasonally adjusted and trend State/territory data should be available from the March quarter 2003 issue.

1.7 The forward factor methodology currently used for the seasonally adjusted series will be replaced by the concurrent seasonal adjustment methodology.

2. Inventories

2.1 Data on detailed manufacturing industries will not be included in the publication and will only be available on request, as will detailed data for other industries.

2.2 Previous estimates of inventories for the Retail industry excluded Automotive electrical services, Smash repairs and Automotive repair and services nec. These parts of the industry have now been included from March quarter 2001. This increases the level of Retail inventories by about 2% and care should be taken when making year on year comparisons spanning the March quarter 2001.

2.3 The forward factor methodology currently used for the seasonally adjusted series will be replaced by the concurrent seasonal adjustment methodology.

3. Wages and salaries

3.1 Wages and salaries data have not been presented in the September quarter 2001 issue of Business Indicators, Australia but will be included in the December quarter 2001 issue. These data will only be presented in original terms until three years data are available and experimental seasonally adjusted and trend series can be produced.

3.2 Wages and salaries will be presented by broad industry and for each State/territory.

4. Company Profits

4.1 Only two profit measures will be presented in Business Indicators, Australia:
  • Company profits before income tax, and
  • Company gross operating profits.

4.2 The second measure is equivalent to the 'Company profits before income tax, net interest paid, depreciation and selected items' measure that was previously presented as experimental in the Appendix to Company Profits, Australia. The name of the item has been simplified and the series is no longer considered experimental. This item was only presented in seasonally adjusted terms at the all industry level but the new publication presents seasonally adjusted and trend series for this item at the broad industry level.

4.3 Other measures of profit (eg Company profits before income tax and net interest paid; and Company profits before income tax, net interest paid and depreciation) and components of profit (eg Depreciation, Interest paid and Interest received) will not be presented in Business Indicators, Australia but will be available on request.

4.4 In Company Profits, Australia all profits measures are in respect of companies with more than 30 employees. Business Indicators, Australia will present all profits measures in respect of companies with 20 or more employees.

4.5 The two profits measures will be presented at the broad industry level but data on detailed manufacturing industries will be available on request, as will detailed data for other industries.

4.6 Two ANZSIC classes (Libraries and Museums) have been included in estimates for the Cultural and recreational services division from March quarter 2001. The inclusion of these ANZSIC classes does not result in a noticeable change in the level of company profits.

Australian Bureau of Statistics
January 2002