5512.0 - Government Finance Statistics, Australia, 2008-09 
Quality Declaration
Quality Declaration ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/04/2010
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QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY For local government, the main data sources are annual statements of accounts completed by local authorities. For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment. RELEVANCE The term 'Government Finance Statistics' refers to statistics that measure the financial activities of governments and reflect the impact of those activities on other sectors of the economy. The Australian system of Government Finance Statistics (GFS), is designed to provide statistical information on public sector entities in Australia classified in a uniform and systematic way. GFS enables policy makers and users to analyse the financial operations and financial position of the public sector by the level of government, institutional sector or set of transactions. The system of GFS is based on international standards set out in the System of National Accounts 1993 (SNA93) and the International Monetary Fund's Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 (GFSM 2001). The System of National Accounts has recently been updated and the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA08) was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission in February 2009. SNA08 was implemented in Australia's National Accounts from September quarter 2009 but this has only resulted in one change to the ABS' compilation of GFS. Defence Weapons Platforms (DWP) have been capitalised to align with the SNA08 from September quarter 2009 and time series, including those in this publication, have been revised. This change affected the Commonwealth General Government Operating Statement, Cash Flow Statement and Balance Sheet. The Government Finance Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 5514.0) will be updated to reflect this change. The GFSM 2001 will be revised to reflect the SNA08, the timing of which is unknown at this stage. ABS GFS will be updated to reflect the new international standard after the revised IMF GFSM is available. The GFS system provides details of revenues, expenses, cash flows and assets and liabilities of the Australian public sector and comprises units which are owned and/or controlled by the Commonwealth, state and local governments. This release presents GFS on an accrual accounting basis for each jurisdiction for the general government sector, public non-financial corporations sector, the non-financial public sector, public financial corporations sector and the total public sectors. Data for public non-financial corporations and public financial corporations are available on the ABS website along with other time series tables. The key statements presented are; the operating statement, the cash flow statement, and the balance sheet. TIMELINESS Annual Government Finance Statistics are released within 10 months of the end of the financial year. ACCURACY For practical reasons the ABS does not attempt to cover all economic activity of the public sector in its GFS system. Undercoverage can arise because units are omitted or because some activities are not covered. This only occurs when the economic activity of these units is relatively insignificant. The main influence on the accuracy of GFS data is non-sampling error. Non-sampling error arises from inaccuracies in collecting, recording and processing the data. The most significant of these errors are misreporting of data, and processing errors. Every effort is made to minimise error by working closely with data providers, training of processing staff and efficient data processing procedures. Revisions are made to the annual Government Finance Statistics data as required as a result of new and updated information available from providers. COHERENCE In 1998-99, the ABS adopted an accrual basis of recording for its GFS. Prior to this the ABS GFS was cash based. In addition to the information published, some GFS data are available back to 1961-62. However, due to the different compilation and data sources, data from 1998-99 onwards are not directly comparable with earlier cash data. The ABS has not established a quantitative measure of this break in series because the existing data sources do not permit this. Data on a pure accruals basis are only available from 1998-99. In 1992-93 the Commonwealth and state governments implemented the uniform presentation framework (UPF) in their budget documents to introduce uniformity into the presentation of GFS. From 2008-09 onwards, Australian Accounting Standard Board 1049 Whole of Government and General Government Sector Financial Reporting (AASB 1049) has replaced Australian Accounting Standard 31 Financial Reporting by Government (AAS 31) as the standard Governments should follow in the preparation of their financial statements. A key feature of AASB 1049 is that where the Government Finance Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 5514.0) differs from the accounting standards, a reconciliation to the key GFS aggregates and an explanation for these must be presented in a reconciliation statement. Data presented in this publication may differ from data published by Treasuries in their reconciliation statements for the key aggregates where Treasuries have not adjusted their data to a GFS basis, where ABS have a different view on classification treatments, where ABS employ a different consolidation methodology, or where data have been included that were not available when the jurisdiction's GFS presentations were published. The statistics in this release have been compiled using standard definitions, classifications and treatment of government financial transactions to facilitate comparisons between levels of government and between states within a level of government. However, the statistics also reflect real differences between the administrative and accounting arrangements of the various jurisdictions and these differences need to be taken into account when making interstate comparisons. For example, only a state level of government exists in the ACT. The ACT government performs a number of functions which are undertaken by local government authorities in other jurisdictions. To compile statistics about the financial activities of a particular level of government, or any other grouping of public sector units, transactions and debtor/creditor relationships between units within the chosen grouping (sector or subsector) have to be matched and eliminated to avoid double counting. The process of matching and eliminating these items within the chosen group is known as 'consolidation'. While GFS and ASNA share the same conceptual framework (SNA), there are methodological differences between GFS and ASNA analytical measures (for example net worth and net lending/borrowing). Descriptions of GFS/ASNA reconciliations are outlined in Chapter 7 of Australian System of Government Finance Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 5514.0). INTERPRETABILITY The publication Government Finance Statistics, Australia (cat. no. 5512.0) contains an Explanatory Note and Glossary that provide information on the data sources, terminology, classifications and other technical aspects associated with these statistics Detailed information on the concepts, sources and methods used in compiling GFS can be found in Australian System of Government Finance Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Method (cat. no. 5514.0.55.001) electronic version or (cat. no. 5514.0) PDF version. ACCESSIBILITY If the information you require is not available from the published data then the ABS may have other relevant data available on request. Inquiries should be made to the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070, email <client.services@abs.gov.au> or Glynis Orrell on Canberra (02) 6252 5735, email <public.finance@abs.gov.au>. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.
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