1001.0 - Annual Report - ABS Annual Report, 2003-04  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/10/2004   
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Contents >> Section 1 - Summary of Operations >> Chapter 1 - Executive Summary - Financial Position

Within the context of the Portfolio Budget Statements, the ABS has two outputs: (i) Economic Statistics; and (ii) Population and Social Statistics. The table below provides, for 2003-04, a financial summary of ABS outputs and price of outputs against the budgeted figures, and also provides budgeted figures for 2004-05. The full financial statements are provided in Chapter 8, while a detailed summary of outputs by program component is provided in Appendix 2. The ABS budget is prepared under an accrual framework, consistent with the Australian Government Budget requirements.

There was an operating deficit of $1.649 million in 2003-04. This was a better outcome than the $2.0 million deficit anticipated at the time of the Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements. The deficit in 2003-04 reflects unexpected results in two areas. First, leave accruals, in particular long service leave, have been higher than budgeted, and second, there have been delays in the deployment to other work programs of surplus staff arising from the implementation of the Business Statistics Innovation Program in the economic statistics area.

Table 1: Financial resources summary ($'000)
Budget 2003-04(a)
Actual 2003-04
Variance
Budget 2004-05(b)
Administered Expenses
Discretionary Grants(c)
-
-
-
-
Total Administered Expenses
-
-
-
-
Price of Departmental Outputs
Output group 1.1 - National Statistical Service
Output group 1.1.1 - Economic statistics
141,579
148,912
-7,333
156,903
Output group 1.1.2 - Population and social statistics
128,507
123,258
5,249
129,873
Total output
270,086
272,170
-2,084
286,776
Revenue from Government appropriation
250,981
251,081
-100
269,558
Revenue from other sources
19,154
19,440
-286
17,218
Total Price of Outputs
270,135
270,521
-386
286,776
Total for Outcome 1
270,135
270,521
-386
286,776
Staff years (number)
2,825
2,743
82
2,684
(a) Budget 2003-04 - full year budget, including additional estimates. (b) Budget 2004-05 - budget prior to additional estimates. (c) The ABS does not administer any discretionary grants.

The ABS recorded a 25 per cent decrease in revenue raised from statistics in 2003-04. The breakdown of revenue raised from various sources is shown in Table 2 below.



Table 2: Revenue raised from other sources ($'000)
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
Revenue raised from statistics
Publications
Subscriptions
1,110
922
682
Other
487
628
389
Other Standard Products
2,619
8,270
4,603
Information Consultancy
3,591
6,388
4,432
Statistical Consultancy
1,955
892
833
User Funded Surveys
3,737
3,441
3,083
Other Products and Services
4,587
4,066
4,738
Total revenue raised from statistics
18,087
24,607
18,760
Other revenue
1,448
1,451
680
Total
19,535
26,058
19,440

The decline in revenue during 2003-04 can be largely attributed to the significant fall in revenue from the 2001 Census of Population and Housing data. This reflects the cyclical pattern of revenue from census products, the majority of which were released at the end of June 2002. While an increase was recorded against other products and services, this gain was offset by significant decreases in revenue from other standard products (notably CDATA) and information consultancies, together with smaller decreases in publications and user funded surveys.

While the decreases are consistent with the ABS census cycle, the ABS policy of encouraging self-help facilities, the increasing data availability on our web site and the increasing use of intermediaries, they further impact on the budget flexibility available to the ABS.

Dennis Trewin
Australian Statistician




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