Government-owned or controlled Public Trading Enterprises are included.

The frame used for the survey of Australian industry, 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 and businesses which have ceased operating.

The period covered by the estimates is, in general, the twelve months ended 30 June. Where businesses are unable to supply information on this basis, an accounting period for which data can be provided is used for data other than that relating to employment. Such businesses make a substantial contribution to some of the estimates presented in this release. As a result, the estimates can reflect trading conditions that prevailed in periods outside the twelve months ended June in the relevant year.

The survey is designed primarily to deliver national estimates for all industry divisions within the scope of the collection.

A component of the sample survey was not specifically designed to produce state estimates. For these units, state data was apportioned using BAS data obtained from the ATO. For the remainder of sampled units, directly collected data was used. Each sampled business was asked to supply key details of their operations by state and territory, enabling the production of some state/territory estimates.


TIMELINESS

The survey is conducted annually. Forms are despatched in August. The business taxation data are received in November following the end of the reference period. The ABS aims to publish estimates from its annual business survey program within twelve months of the end of the reference period.


ACCURACY

The ABS aims to produce high quality data from its industry collections while minimising the reporting burden on businesses. To achieve this, extensive effort is put into survey and questionnaire design, collection procedures and processing. The 2007-08 survey used generalised regression estimation. Generalised regression estimation is a form of ratio estimation which makes use of auxiliary data items which are strongly correlated with key data items directly collected by the ABS from businesses. The auxiliary variables used in this survey were turnover and wages from data sourced from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Use of this methodology allowed high quality statistics to be produced from a small sample of 15,687 businesses.

Two types of error can occur in estimates that are based on a sample survey: non-sampling error and sampling error.

Non-sampling error arises from inaccuracies in collecting, recording and processing the data. Every effort was made to minimise reporting error, by the careful design of questionnaires, intensive training of survey analysts, and efficient data processing procedures.

Non-sampling error also occurs when information cannot be obtained from all businesses selected in the survey. For the 2006-07 survey of Australian industry, there was an 89.7% response rate from all businesses that were surveyed and found to be operating during the reference period. Data were imputed for the remaining 10.3% of operating businesses. Imputed responses contributed 9.1% to the estimate of sales and service income for Total Selected Industries.

Sampling error occurs when a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed. It reflects the difference between estimates based on a sample and those that would have been obtained had a census been conducted. One measure of this difference is the standard error. There are about two chances in three that a sample estimate will differ by less than one standard error from the figure that would have been obtained if all businesses had been included in the survey, and about nineteen chances in twenty that the difference will be less than two standard errors.

A measure of sampling error is the relative standard error, which is obtained by expressing the standard error as a percentage of the estimate to which it refers. The relative standard error 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. Relative standard errors (RSEs) of key estimates are available in Technical Note 2 of Australian Industry, 2007-08 (cat. no. 8155.0).


COHERENCE

The ABS has been conducting annual surveys of Australian industry since 1990-91.

A core set of data items has been collected each year. The definitions of these are reviewed each year and are refined or respecified as needed. Additional data items are collected in different years, in response to demand and priorities.

From the 2006-07 reference year the survey has been conducted using ANZSIC 2006 and new methodologies. As a result, a new series of these estimates has commenced from 2006-07. Estimates of key data variables for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are accompanied by estimates for 2004-05 and 2005-06 on a comparable basis.

INTERPRETABILITY

Estimates from the survey of Australian industry are available as original series only, and are not seasonally or trend adjusted.

Although financial estimates in this release relate to the full twelve months, employment estimates relate to the last pay period ending in June of the given year.

Further information about terminology and other technical aspects associated with these statistics can be found in the publication Australian Industry, 2007-08 (cat. no. 8551.0), which contains detailed Explanatory Notes, Technical Notes and a Glossary.


ACCESSIBILITY

Data from the 2007-08 survey of Australian industry are available in a variety of formats. The formats available free of charge on the ABS website are: