5232.0 - Australian National Accounts: Financial Accounts, Sep 2009
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/12/2009
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EXPLANATORY NOTES
2 The financial account plus the financial assets and liabilities from the balance sheet and non-transaction flows such as revaluations and volume changes forms a dataset in the publication known as the Australian National Accounts, Financial Accounts (cat. no. 5232.0). The publication contains financial profiles of each sub sector of the economy and the market for each conventional financial instrument. There are also tables showing inter-sectoral financial transactions and measures of sectoral financial surpluses and deficits. 3 Financial accounts of various types - which are also called flow of funds statistics - are published by many Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, including the United States of America (from 1945), the United Kingdom (from 1952) and Canada (from 1962). In Australia, the Reserve Bank produced annual flow of funds accounts for the reference years 1953-54 to 1988-89. The final edition of these was published in the Reserve Bank Bulletin, November 1989. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) published quarterly estimates commencing with experimental estimates of inter-sectoral financial transactions for the March and June quarters 1989. From the June 1998 reference quarter, the financial accounts dataset was produced according to a revised international standard, the System of National Accounts, 1993 (SNA93) and from the September 2009 quarter, Australian National Accounts, Financial Accounts (cat. no. 5232.0) has been produced according to the SNA08. 4 The SNA08 was produced by five international organisations involved in the use of economic statistics and the promotion of international statistical standards: United Nations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Commission of the European Communities. The ABS adheres to internationally accepted standards. This ensures that Australian statistics are comparable with other countries that apply the standards. In some cases the relevant international standard has been interpreted and adapted for Australian conditions. 5 There are significant conceptual differences between the SNA93 version and the SNA08 Australian Financial Accounts (see Information Paper: cat. no. 5232.0.55.003). The dataset prior to September 2009 has been converted to SNA08 and backcast to June quarter 1988 (stocks data) and September quarter 1988 (transactions data). In addition to SNA08, the concepts employed include elements drawn from the classifications used in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) sixth edition of the Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6), the IMF's Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001, and the IMF's Manual on Monetary and Financial Statistics 2001. The most significant change from SNA93 to SNA08 version has been the revision to the sectoral classification applicable to Financial Corporations. These changes have been adapted to Australian conditions in the Standard Economic Sector Classification of Australia (SESCA), 2008 (cat. no. 1218.0) and applied to the Australian Financial Accounts. SESCA discusses transactor units and the sectoral classification CONCEPTS, SOURCES AND METHODS 6 Australian National Accounts: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 5216.0) provides detailed descriptions of the concepts, data sources and methodologies used in compiling the Australian national accounts, including the financial accounts. The current version of this product reflects the System of National Accounts, 1993 (SNA93) concepts and a number of references to data sources and methods are out of date. A revised Concepts, Sources and Methods product updated to include SNA08 is scheduled for release in 2010. STOCK AND FLOW CONCEPTS 7 Tables 1 to 21 and 23 to 33 present balance sheet data at market prices at the end of each calendar quarter. Balance sheet data are also known as stock, level or position data. These tables also now show net inter-sectoral financial transactions during the quarters. These are flow data. In this publication, the net transactions or flows are defined as active dealing in a financial instrument. THE CLASSIFICATION OF INSTITUTIONAL SECTORS AND SUBSECTORS 8 The institutional sectors are based on the Standard Economic Sector Classifications of Australia, 2008 (cat.no. 1218.0) and are the same as the sectors used in national income and expenditure accounts. 9 The basic unit that is classified by sector is the institutional unit, which is defined as an economic entity that is capable, in its own right, of owning assets, incurring liabilities and engaging in economic activities and transactions with other entities. SOURCES OF DATA 10 Most of the financial data in this publication are derived from statistical surveys conducted by the ABS and from information collected by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). Some other data sources are used, particularly for valuation adjustments. 11 The quarterly sectoral capital accounts in the flow of funds matrices are prepared using a variety of indicators to dissect annual estimates based on survey data. Some of the indicators used are known to be of poor quality; these are footnoted in tables to note the quality concerns and should be used with caution. COMPILATION METHODS 12 The levels (stock) tables are prepared by gathering together balance sheet information from various sources and selecting the better estimates. A choice is often possible because different data sources provide alternative or counterpart measures of the same item. For example, borrowing by state owned non-financial corporations will be reported by the state central borrowing authorities or Treasuries as assets and by the non-financial corporations as liabilities. The subsector aggregates derived from these data do not agree because the ABS does not survey all state owned non-financial corporations. In this case, the data from the central borrowing authorities and Treasuries are therefore used to estimate both the asset and liability aspects of these borrowings. 13 In some cases, transactions data are directly collected. In other cases transactions must be derived from the difference in consecutive levels. These net financial transactions are derived by taking the difference between closing and opening levels of balance sheet items and, where possible, eliminating changes on the balance sheet caused by valuation effects such as exchange rate movements. ACCOUNTING BASIS 14 SNA08 states explicitly that the national accounts should record transactions on an accrual basis (as opposed to a cash or 'due for payment' basis), to reflect the time when economic value is transferred rather than when cash relating to the transaction is paid or falls due for payment. For practical reasons complete implementation of accrual accounting throughout the national accounts is not yet possible. Some areas where accrual accounting has not been adopted include:
15 In these statistics tradable securities, which include shares listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and debt securities traded on organised markets, are valued at market prices. 16 Other securities are assigned estimated market values. For example, equity not listed on ASX is valued on the basis of value of total assets of the enterprise in question less the value of any repayable liabilities. 17 Deposits, loans and other accounts payable/receivable are recorded at their face value. 18 Net equity of pension funds in life office reserves are valued on the basis of market value of total assets (including non financial assets) of the funds less any repayable liabilities. RELATED STATISTICS 19 Related ABS publications which may also be of interest include:
OTHER PUBLISHED INFORMATION 20 A more extensive set of Explanatory Notes and a Glossary relevant to the financial accounts are available on the ABS web site <https://www.abs.gov.au>. Inquiries should be made to the contact on the front cover of this publication. EFFECTS OF ROUNDING 21 Any discrepancies between totals and sums of components in the tables are caused by rounding. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.
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