SEPTEMBER KEY FIGURES

			Jun Qtr 13 to Sep Qtr 13	Sep Qtr 12 to Sep Qtr 13
			%	%
Sales of goods and services (Chain volume measures)
	Manufacturing
		Trend	-0.4	-2.0
		Seasonally Adjusted	-0.3	-2.0
	Wholesale trade
		Trend	-1.1	-2.5
		Seasonally Adjusted	-2.1	-3.4
Inventories (Chain volume measures)
	Trend		-0.1	0.0
	Seasonally Adjusted		-0.5	-0.3
Company gross operating profits
	Trend		2.3	7.1
	Seasonally Adjusted		3.9	8.9
Wages and salaries
	Seasonally Adjusted		0.7	3.1

Inventories (volume terms), Trend estimates

Company gross operating profits, Trend estimates

SEPTEMBER KEY POINTS


CHAIN VOLUME ESTIMATES

• The trend estimate for inventories fell 0.1% in the September quarter 2013. The seasonally adjusted estimate fell 0.5% this quarter.
• The trend estimate for Manufacturing sales of goods and services fell 0.4% this quarter. The seasonally adjusted estimate fell 0.3%.
• The trend estimate for Wholesale trade sales of goods and services fell 1.1% this quarter. The seasonally adjusted estimate fell 2.1%.

CURRENT PRICE ESTIMATES

• The seasonally adjusted estimate for company gross operating profits rose 3.9% in the September quarter 2013.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for wages and salaries rose 0.7% in the September quarter 2013.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
December 2013	3 March 2014
March 2014	2 June 2014
June 2014	1 September 2014
September 2014	1 December 2014

COMPARISON BETWEEN COMPANY GROSS OPERATING PROFITS AND GROSS OPERATING SURPLUS

Valuation changes have had an impact on the value of inventories held by Australian businesses this quarter. An inventories valuation adjustment (IVA) is applied in the calculation of the gross operating surplus of private non-financial corporations (GOS) estimate in the Australian National Accounts. The IVA for the September quarter 2013 is $2,906m which is $2,951m higher than the June quarter 2013 IVA of -$45m.

No adjustment is made to the company gross operating profits (CGOP) estimate in this publication and, as a result, users should exercise caution when comparing CGOP and GOS. It should be noted that there are other differences between the two series. In particular, changes are made to GOS when annual benchmarks are applied and slightly different seasonal factors apply to the two series. Given this, while CGOP movements are an appropriate indicator for GOS, the two series will not have equivalent seasonally adjusted movements from quarter to quarter.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

Each September quarter the reference and base year for chain volume estimates for the Business Indicators Survey are updated. A new base year, 2011-12, has been introduced into the chain volume estimates which has resulted in minor revisions to growth rates in subsequent periods. In addition, the chain volume estimates have been re-referenced to 2011-12. Additivity is preserved in the quarters of the reference year and subsequent quarters. Re-referencing affects the level of, but not the movements in, chain volume estimates.

As happens each year, a seasonal re-analysis has been undertaken based on estimates up to and including the June quarter 2013. This may result in more significant revisions to seasonally adjusted and trend estimates, than those observed in other issues. Refer to Explanatory Notes paragraphs 17 to 22 for more information.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Didier Rivet on Sydney (02) 9268 4900.