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HISTORY OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS IN AUSTRALIA

The first official estimates of national income for Australia (based on estimates prepared by Clark and Crawford) were published in 1938 in The Australian Balance of Payments, 1928-29 to 1937-38, although unofficial estimates by several economists had been published in the 1920s and 1930s.¹ In 1945, the first official set of national accounts was prepared by the then Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics (CBCS) and published in the Commonwealth Budget Paper Estimates of National Income and Public Authority Income and Expenditure.

The 1960s and early 1970s were times of significant development for Australian national accounting. The first official quarterly estimates of national income and expenditure were published in December 1960.² In 1963 the CBCS published the first Australian National Accounts: National Income and Expenditure (ANA) bulletin, which included the first annual constant price estimates for Australia.³ Experimental input-output estimates were published in 1964.⁴ The CBCS began to seasonally adjust its quarterly estimates of national income and expenditure in 1967. Estimates of gross product by industry at constant prices were published for the first time in 1969.⁵ In 1971, the CBCS first published seasonally adjusted, constant price quarterly estimates of national income and expenditure, which later proved to be among the most used of all national accounting estimates. The CBCS published estimates of national income and expenditure based on the revised United Nations publication A System of National Accounts (1968 version) in 1973, and also published the first official input-output statistics⁶ in the same year.

In the 1980s, the former CBCS, now called the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), again made significant progress in national accounting. The first full edition of Australian National Accounts: Concepts, Sources and Methods was published in 1981 at about the same time as the first experimental estimates of capital stock.⁷ The ABS conducted a study into the accuracy and reliability of the quarterly estimates of national income and expenditure and published the results in 1982.⁸ Experimental State accounts⁹ were published in 1984, followed by the first official estimates in 1987.¹⁰ They are now published annually. In 1985, the ABS published an assessment of the effects of rebasing constant price estimates from a 1979-80 base to a 1984-85 base.¹¹ In 1986, the second set of experimental estimates of capital stock was published¹² followed in 1987 by the first official estimates of capital stock.¹³ The first quarterly estimates of constant price gross product by industry were released in 1988.¹⁴ These estimates have now been incorporated into the quarterly Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product (5206.0).

Further significant developments in national accounting and associated statistics have occurred during the 1990s. An updated edition of Australian National Accounts: Concepts, Sources and Methods was published in 1990 (subsequently available on CD-ROM), the same year as the first estimates of multifactor productivity were published¹⁵ . In 1990, the ABS also published developmental flow of funds accounts, showing the changes in financial assets and liabilities arising from the financing of productive activity in the economy.¹⁶ Flow of funds estimates are now published on a quarterly basis, along with estimates of stocks of financial assets and liabilities at the end of each quarter. An Information Paper describing the impact of rebasing constant price estimates from a 1984-85 base to a 1989-90 base was published in 1993.¹⁷ Experimental estimates of national balance sheets for Australia were first released in 1995,¹⁸ followed by the publication of regular annual national and sector balance sheet estimates in 1997.

Following the release of revised international standards for national accounts in the System of National Accounts, 1993 (SNA93), the ABS worked toward implementation of the revised and extended system recommended in that document. The first official release of Australian national accounts statistics on an SNA93 basis was for the September quarter 1998. Prior information on the nature and impact of implementation of the revised standards and methodology was provided in a series of discussion and information papers as follows:

• Discussion Paper: Introduction of Revised International Statistical Standards in ABS Macro-economic Statistics (5245.0), December 1994.
• Information Paper: Implementation of Revised International Standards in the Australian National Accounts (5251.0), September 1997.
• Information Paper: Introduction of Chain Volume Measures in the Australian National Accounts (5248.0), March 1998.

• Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product (5206.0), June quarter 1998, re-released in November 1998 in Information Paper: Upgraded Australian National Accounts (5253.0).
• Australian National Accounts: Financial Accounts (5232.0), June quarter 1998, re-released in December 1998 in Information Paper: Upgraded Australian National Accounts: Financial Accounts (5254.0).

29.1 GDP AND GROSS FIXED CAPITAL FORMATION, At Current Prices - 1900-01 to 1998-99
	Gross domestic product ($m)				Gross fixed capital formation ($m)
Year	(a)	(b)	(c)	(d)	(e)	(b)	(c)	(d)
1900-01	419				55
1901-02	444				78
1902-03	428				68
1903-04	448				52
1904-05	444				47
1905-06	479				53
1906-07	538				72
1907-08	536				76
1908-09	573				75
1909-10	623				81
1910-11	684				98
1911-12	734				124
1912-13	802				147
1913-14	864				155
1914-15	838				140
1915-16	969				160
1916-17	1,022				184
1917-18	1,062				173
1918-19	1,145				185
1919-20	1,253				213
1920-21	1,382				246
1921-22	1,378				260
1922-23	1,510				274
1923-24	1,569				291
1924-25	1,722				302
1925-26	1,659				307
1926-27	1,729				326