EXPLANATORY NOTES
INTRODUCTION
1 This publication presents results from an Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) survey of businesses/organisations engaged in sports and physical recreation services for the reference year 2004-05. This is the third time the ABS has conducted this survey. Previous surveys were conducted in respect of the 1994-95 and 2000-01 financial years.
SCOPE
2 The scope of the 2004-05 Sports and Physical Recreation Services Survey was all employing and significant non-employing businesses/organisations on the ABS Business Register, classified to the following Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) classes:
- 9311 - Horse and Dog Racing. This class includes businesses/organisations mainly engaged in operating facilities designed and used for horse and dog racing. Examples of businesses/organisations in this class are thoroughbred, harness and greyhound training businesses/organisations.
- 9312 - Sports Grounds and Facilities n.e.c. This class includes businesses/organisations mainly engaged in operating any kind of indoor or outdoor sporting facility other than horse and dog racing facilities. Examples of businesses/organisations in this class include those which operate gymnasia, squash courts, swimming pools, bowling alleys, basketball stadiums, football grounds, etc.
- 9319 - Sports and Services to Sports n.e.c. This class includes businesses/organisations mainly engaged in providing sporting services not covered by Classes 9311 and 9312 above. Examples of businesses/organisations in this class include sporting associations, sporting administration businesses/organisations and sports coaching businesses/organisations.
3 For the purposes of this survey significant non-employing units were defined as those with turnover in 2004-05 of $135,000 or more. Non-employing units were excluded from previous surveys.
4 The scope of the survey also included units classified to the general government sector of the ABS Standard Institutional Sector Classification of Australia (SISCA) with primary portfolio responsibility for sports or mainly involved in the provision of sports services. Local government authorities providing sports and physical recreation services were also included. These government organisations are classified to the following three ANZSIC classes:
- 8111-8112 - Central and State Government Administration. These classes include organisations mainly engaged in formulating and administering federal and state government policy (except justice and defence). For the purposes of this survey the scope has been restricted to only general government organisations with primary portfolio responsibility for sports and/or mainly involved in the provision of sports and physical recreation services.
- 8113 - Local Government Administration. This class consists of organisations mainly engaged in local government administration. For this survey the scope is only local government authorities providing sports and physical recreation services.
5 More information on SISCA can be found in the ABS publication Standard Economic Sector Classifications of Australia (cat. no. 1218.0).
6 This publication also presents statistics based on the Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications (ACLC). These classifications were released in 2001 and details are available in Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications (cat. no. 4902.0). Estimates are presented for the following ACLC classes:
- 311 - Horse and Dog Racing. This class consists of businesses/organisations mainly engaged in operating facilities especially used and designed for thoroughbred horse racing, harness horse racing or greyhound racing. This class also includes the operation of racing stables and kennels and the provision of riding or harness driving services.
- 321 - Health and Fitness Centres and Gymnasia. This class consists of businesses/organisations mainly involved in operating health clubs, fitness centres and gymnasia. They may operate as participative exercise groups or allow individuals to use the available gymnasium equipment. Units in this class may contain squash courts, swimming pools and other sporting facilities provided their primary purpose is the provision of a range of fitness and exercise services.
- 322 - Other Sports and Physical Recreation Venues, Grounds and Facilities. This class consists of businesses/organisations mainly engaged in operating any kind of indoor or outdoor sports or physical recreation facility other than for horse and dog racing. Included are sporting clubs which operate their own sports grounds or facilities. Units operating their own training facilities which are a main avenue to regular involvement in a sport (e.g. martial arts training facility) are also included in this class.
- 331 - Sports and Physical Recreation Administrative Organisations. This class consists of organisations mainly engaged in the administration and/or control of sports or physical recreation disciplines and/or groups of clubs. These units may be responsible for the policies, rules and regulations governing the conduct of an individual sporting or physical recreation discipline, or may distribute funding to affiliated member organisations.
- 332 - Sports and Physical Recreation Clubs, Teams and Sports Professionals. This class consists of businesses/organisations mainly engaged in operating individual sports or physical recreation clubs or teams which predominantly provide opportunities for participants or entertainment for spectators. This class also includes freelance sports professionals.
- 334 - Sports and Physical Recreation Support Services (part). This class consists of businesses/organisations mainly engaged in providing support services to persons and organisations involved in sports and physical recreation. In this publication, estimates presented for support services include sports and physical recreation services, education and coaching services and personal fitness training services. Note that this is not the full scope of Sports and Physical Recreation Support Services outlined in the ACLC. This class has been restricted to include only the above activities for the purposes of this survey.
STATISTICAL UNITS DEFINED ON THE ABS REGISTER
7 The ABS uses an economic statistics units model on the ABS Business Register to describe the characteristics of businesses/organisations, and the structural relationships between related businesses/organisations. The units model is also used to break groups of related businesses/organisations into relatively homogeneous components that can provide data to the ABS.
8 In mid-2002, to better use the information available as a result of The New Tax System, the ABS changed its economic statistics units model. The new units model allocates businesses/organisations to one of two sub-populations. The vast majority of businesses/organisations are in what is called the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Maintained Population, while the remaining businesses/organisations are in the ABS Maintained Population. Together, these two sub-populations make up the ABS Business Register population.
ATO Maintained Population
9 Most businesses and organisations in Australia need to obtain an Australian Business Number (ABN), and are then included on the ATO Australian Business Register. Most of these businesses/organisations have simple structures; therefore the unit registered for an ABN satisfies ABS statistical requirements. For these businesses/organisations, the ABS has aligned its statistical units structure with the ABN unit. The businesses/organisations with simple structures constitute the ATO Maintained Population, and the ABN unit is used as the economic statistics unit for all economic collections.
ABS Maintained Population
10 For the population of businesses/organisations where the ABN unit is not suitable for ABS statistical requirements, the ABS maintains its own units structure through direct contact with the business/organisation. These businesses/organisations constitute the ABS Maintained Population. This population consists typically of large, complex and diverse businesses/organisations. The new statistical units model described below has been introduced to cover such businesses/organisations:
- Enterprise Group: This is a unit covering all the operations in Australia of one or more legal entities under common ownership and/or control. It covers all the operations in Australia of legal entities which are related in terms of the current Corporations Law (as amended by the Corporations Legislation Amendment Act 1991), including legal entities such as companies, trusts, and partnerships. Majority ownership is not required for control to be exercised.
- Enterprise: The enterprise is an institutional unit comprising (i) a single legal entity or business entity, or (ii) more than one legal entity or business entity within the same Enterprise Group and in the same institutional subsector (i.e. they are all classified to a single Standard Institutional Sector Classification of Australia subsector).
- Type of Activity Unit (TAU): The TAU is comprised of one or more business entities, sub-entities or branches of a business entity within an Enterprise Group that can report production and employment data for similar economic activities. When a minimum set of data items are available, a TAU is created which covers all the operations within an industry subdivision (and the TAU is classified to the relevant subdivision of the ANZSIC). Where a business cannot supply adequate data for each industry, a TAU is formed which contains activity in more than one industry subdivision.
11 For more information on the impacts of the introduction of the new economic statistics units model, refer to Information Paper: Improvements in ABS Economic Statistics [Arising from The New Tax System] (cat. no. 1372.0).
Comparison over time
12 Prior to the 2004-05 survey, the Sports and Physical Recreation Services Survey used the management unit as the statistical unit. The statistical unit in the 2004-05 survey was the ABN unit for businesses/organisations with simple structures, and the TAU for businesses/organisations with complex structures. In most cases, ABN/TAU units concord with the management units used in previous surveys.
COVERAGE
13 The frame used for the Sports and Physical Recreation Services Survey, like most ABS economic surveys, was taken from the ABS Business Register. The ABS Business Register is updated monthly to take account of new businesses/organisations and businesses/organisations which have ceased employing.
IMPROVEMENTS TO COVERAGE
14 Data in this publication have been adjusted to allow for lags in processing new businesses/organisations to the ABS Business Register, and the omission of some businesses/organisations from the register. The majority of businesses/organisations affected, and to which the adjustments apply, are small in size.
15 Adjustments have been made to include new businesses/organisations in the estimates in the periods in which they commenced operations, rather than when they were processed to the ABS Business Register. Adjustments of this type will continue to be applied in future periods.
16 For more information on these adjustments, please refer to the ABS publication Information Paper: Improvements to ABS Economic Statistics, 1997 (cat. no. 1357.0).
COMPARISON WITH OTHER ABS STATISTICS
17 Annual data for sports and physical recreation services are also published in Australian Industry (cat. no. 8155.0). There are important differences between the statistics published in the Australian Industry and Sports and Physical Recreation Services publications and users should exercise caution when making comparisons between the two sets of estimates.
18 The Australian Industry publication presents annual summary statistics at the ANZSIC class level. It shows the relative performance of each industry class, and allows patterns of change or growth to be analysed across particular segments of the Australian economy. The industry estimates presented in Australian Industry are used in the compilation of the National Accounts, and in the derivation of economy-wide indicators such as gross domestic product.
19 The Sports and Physical Recreation Services publication supplements the annual industry summary statistics with a detailed examination of the structure and performance of businesses/organisations involved in sporting operations for the reference year of the survey.
20 One reason the two sets of estimates vary relates to the use of different industry coding practices. For the Australian Industry publication, businesses/organisations are coded to ANZSIC industry classes on the basis of the activity reported to the ATO when they registered for an ABN, or for more complex businesses/organisations, on the basis of information reported directly to the ABS (see Explanatory Notes paragraphs 7-11). On the other hand, Sports and Physical Recreation Services presents estimates for ANZSIC Classes 9311, 9312 and 9319 based on detailed financial data reported in the survey.
21 Other differences in results relate to scope and coverage variations between the two surveys. All non-employing businesses/organisations were included in the scope of Australian Industry, however only employing and significant non-employing businesses/organisations were in scope of Sports and Physical Recreation Services (see paragraphs 2-6 of the Explanatory Notes).
HISTORICAL COMPARISONS
22 While comparisons are made between the 2004-05 and 2000-01 survey results, the reader should bear in mind that the 2004-05 survey was not designed to support accurate estimates of change, and should exercise caution when comparing 2004-05 results to the 2000-01 results. The following changes were made to the 2004-05 survey:
- inclusion of non-employing units with a turnover greater than $135,000. The inclusion of significant non-employing businesses in the 2004-05 Sports and Physical Recreation Services Survey is estimated to have contributed an additional 13% to business counts and 3.3% to financial estimates
- reclassification of some units. Ski field units were reclassified from ACLC 322 in the 2000-01 survey to ACLC 334 for the 2004-05 survey
- changes to data items. For the 2004-05 survey, membership income included competition fees, and a new item was added for income from coaching, training or instructing.
23 In addition, the sports and physical recreation estimates for 2000-01 were heavily impacted by the conduct of the Sydney Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. Data for the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee Limited were included in the summary sports and physical recreation estimates in the 2000-01 issue of this publication. These data have been omitted from historical estimates presented in this publication.
RELIABILITY OF DATA
24 When interpreting the results of a survey it is important to take into account factors that may affect the reliability of estimates. Such factors can be classified as either sampling or non-sampling error.
25 The estimates are based on information obtained from a randomly selected stratified sample of businesses/organisations engaged in the provision of sports and physical recreation services in the Australian business/organisation population. Consequently, the estimates in this publication are subject to sampling variability, that is, they may differ from the figures that would have been obtained if all units had been included in the survey (that is if a census was conducted). One measure of the likely difference is given by the standard error (SE), which indicates the extent to which an estimate might have varied by chance because only a sample of units was included.
26 There are about two chances in three that a sample estimate will differ by less than one SE from the figure that would have been obtained if a census was conducted and approximately 19 chances in 20 that the difference will be less than two SEs.
27 Sampling variability can also be measured by the relative standard error (RSE), which is obtained by expressing the SE as a percentage of the estimate to which it refers. The RSE is a useful measure in that it provides an immediate indication of the sampling error in percentage terms, and this avoids the need to refer also to the size of the estimate. The following table contains estimates of RSEs for a selection of the statistics presented in this publication.
28 As an example of the above, an estimate of total income for sports and physical recreation activities during 2004-05 was $8,820.5m and the RSE was estimated to be 2.1%, giving a SE of approximately $185.2m. Therefore, there would be two chances in three that, if all units had been included in the survey, a figure in the range of $8,635.3m to $9,005.7m would have been obtained, and 19 chances in 20 (i.e. a confidence interval of 95%) that the figure would have been within the range of $8,450.1m to $9,190.9m.
29 It should be noted that the sampling variability for estimates at the state/territory level was higher than for Australian level aggregates. Survey estimates for states/territories should therefore be viewed with more caution than those for Australia as a whole.
30 Errors other than those due to sampling may occur in any type of collection and are referred to as non-sampling error. For this survey, non-sampling error may result from such things as deficiencies in the register of businesses/organisations from which the sample was drawn, non-response, imperfections in reporting and/or errors made in compiling results. The extent to which non-sampling error affects the results of the survey is not precisely quantifiable. Every effort was made to minimise non-sampling error by careful design and testing of the questionnaire, efficient operating procedures and systems and the use of appropriate methodology. Survey estimates subject to a high level of non-sampling error have been suppressed or provided with relevant cautions.
31 Estimates that have an estimated relative standard error between 10% and 25% are annotated with the symbol '^' . These estimates should be used with caution as they are subject to sampling variability too high for some purposes. Estimates with an RSE between 25% and 50% are annotated with the symbol '*', indicating that the estimate should be used with caution as it is subject to sampling variability too high for most practical purposes. Estimates with an RSE greater than 50% are annotated with the symbol '**' indicating that the sampling variability causes the estimates to be considered too unreliable for general use.
ROUNDING
32 Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between the sum of the components and the total. Similar discrepancies may occur between a proportion or ratio, and the ratio of separate components.
REFERENCE PERIOD
33 Data contained in the tables in this publication relate to sports and physical recreation businesses/organisations in Australia during the year ended June 2005. Financial estimates include the activity of any business or organisation that ceased or commenced operations during the year. Counts of businesses and organisations include only those that were operating at 30 June 2005. Employment includes only persons working for a sports or physical recreation business/organisation during the last pay period ending in June 2005.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
34 ABS publications draw extensively on information provided freely by individuals, businesses, governments and other organisations. Their continued cooperation is appreciated; without it, the wide range of statistics published by the ABS would not be available. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905.
DATA AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
35 Inquiries about these statistics and more detailed statistics than those presented in this publication should be made by telephoning the contact shown on the front page.
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