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QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY

INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Statistics on Australia's outward finance and insurance foreign affiliate trade in services are produced using information from ABS survey data. Data are extensively analysed by the ABS to ensure they are of appropriate quality for inclusion in ABS statistics.

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

This is an irregular publication presenting statistics on foreign affiliates of Australian enterprises operating overseas in the finance and insurance industry. The statistics reflect characteristics of foreign affiliates in terms of their number, value of equity, profit, employment, wages and salaries, and sales and purchases of services. Where possible, breakdowns by country and country group are provided along with breakdowns by industry, by type of service, and by mode of supply.

These statistics are used in a variety of ways. The main users of data are economic and industry analysts, policy advisers in Australian government agencies, private sector economic analysts and dealers, academics, the media and international organisations. The statistics are used to analyse Australia's external performance, formulate and evaluate trade policy, trade treaties and foreign investment policy. They are also used to analyse trends in capital flows and patterns of investment into and out of the economy, and to undertake international comparisons.


TIMELINESS

This irregular publication is released 12 months after the end of the 2009-10 financial year reference period. The source data used in the compilation of outward finance and insurance foreign affiliates are timely. There are no planned updates or revisions to these data.


ACCURACY

Statistics are produced from census data collected from all Australian enterprises with finance and insurance foreign affiliates. Sound data collection and methodological systems, conformity to international standard frameworks, and the use of analytical tools all contribute to these high quality outputs. The ABS ensures that surveys are designed, tested and evaluated to a high quality standard. Where possible, data are validated against independent sources both within the ABS and externally. Data confrontation studies are used to compare and reconcile data items from different collections on an enterprise basis where possible.

Despite the quality assurance undertaken, the data may not be completely accurate due to reporting error and minor data perturbation.


COHERENCE

SOFI FATS was conducted within the international standard framework for foreign affiliates. As such, aggregate data are comparable over time and geographic regions. Some data confrontation with International Trade in Services and International Investment statistics is possible, though not all data are directly comparable.

Data collected in SOFI FATS are a subset of those included in the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services (MSITS), within the framework defined in the International Monetary Fund's Balance of Payments and International Investment Manual, Sixth Edition (BPM6). ABS classifications used in the survey include:

• Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (Revision 1.0) (cat. no. 1292.0)
• Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC), Second Edition (cat. no. 1269.0)
• Central Product Classification (CPC), Version 1.1
• Standard Economic Sector Classifications of Australia (SESCA), 2008 (cat. no. 1218.0)
• Extended Balance of Payments Service Classifications (EBOPS)