9269.0 - Business Transport Activity, Australia, 2010-11 
Quality Declaration
Quality Declaration ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/06/2012 First Issue
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EXPLANATORY NOTES
SCOPE 6 The scope of the collection consists of all business entities operating in the Australian economy during 2010-11, except for:
7 Note that government-owned or controlled Public Trading Enterprises are included. COVERAGE 8 This section discusses frame, statistical units, coverage issues and improvements to coverage. Frame 9 Businesses contributing to the estimates in this publication are sourced from the ABS Business Register (ABSBR), which has two components as described below. Statistical units 10 The ABS uses an economic statistics units model on the ABSBR to describe the characteristics of businesses, and the structural relationships between related businesses. Within large and diverse business groups, the units model is used to define reporting units that can provide data to the ABS at suitable levels of detail. 11 In mid-2002, the ABS commenced sourcing its register information from the Australian Business Register (ABR) and at that time changed its business register to a two population model. The two populations comprise what are called the Profiled Population and the Non-Profiled Population. The main distinction between businesses in the two populations relates to the complexity of the business structure and the degree of intervention required to reflect the business structure for statistical purposes. Non-Profiled Population 12 The large majority of businesses included on the ABS Business Register are in the Non-Profiled Population. Most of these businesses are understood to have simple structures. For these businesses, the ABS is able to use the Australian Business Number (ABN) as the basis for a statistical unit. One ABN equates to one statistical unit. Profiled Population 13 For a small number of businesses, the ABN unit is not suitable for ABS economic statistics purposes and the ABS maintains its own units structure through direct contact with businesses. These businesses constitute the Profiled Population. This population consists typically of large or complex groups of businesses. The statistical units model below caters for such businesses:
14 The following paragraphs outline the way in which categories of statistical units contribute to the estimates of financial and economic variables presented in this publication. TAUs 15 All units in the Profiled Population (i.e. TAUs) were eligible to be selected for direct collection. ABN units 16 All units on the ABSBR not classified as TAUs were ABN units from the Non-Profiled Population. 17 An indication of the economic impact of these populations can be gained from their contribution to the national estimate of sales and service income. For the Transport, Postal and Warehousing industry, the contribution to sales and service income was 58% for TAUs and 42% for ABNs. Coverage issues 18 Each ABN unit or TAU on the ABSBR has been classified (by the ATO and the ABS respectively) to its single predominant industry class, irrespective of any diversity of activities undertaken. 19 Some businesses engage, to a significant extent, in activities which are normally carried out by different industries. For example, a predominantly wholesaling trade business may also generate income from transport activity. Where a business makes a significant economic contribution to industries classified to different ANZSIC subdivisions, the ABS includes the business in the Profiled Population, and 'splits' the TAU's reported data between the industries involved. Significance is determined using total income. 20 A TAU's reported data are split if the inclusion of data relating to the secondary activity, in the statistics of the industry of the primary activity, distorts (by overstating or understating) either the primary or secondary industry statistics at the ANZSIC subdivision level by:
21 The ABS attempts to maintain a current understanding of the structure of the large, complex and diverse business groups that form the Profiled Population on the ABSBR, through direct contact with those businesses. Resultant changes in their structures on the ABSBR can affect:
22 The ABS attempts to obtain data for those businesses selected for direct collection and which ceased operation during the year, but it is not possible to obtain data for all such businesses. Improvements to coverage 23 Data in this publication have been adjusted to allow for lags in processing new businesses to the ABSBR, and the omission of some businesses from the register. The majority of businesses affected, and to which the adjustments apply, are small in size. As an example, the effect of these adjustments is generally 4% or less for most ANZSIC industry divisions. 24 Adjustments have been made to include new businesses in the estimates in the period in which they commenced operations, rather than when they were processed to the ABSBR. 25 For more information on these adjustments, please refer to the ABS publication Information Paper: Improvements to ABS Economic Statistics, 1997 (cat. no. 1357.0). SURVEY DESIGN 26 In order to minimise the load placed on providers, the strategy for this collection was to use, as much as possible, information sourced from the ATO, thus reducing the size of the direct collect sample needed to maintain the range and quality of information available to users of statistical data. The frame (from which the direct collect sample was selected) was stratified using information held on the ABSBR. Businesses eligible for selection in the direct collect sample were then selected from the frame using stratified random sampling techniques. 27 Businesses were only eligible for selection in the survey (the direct collect sample) if their turnover exceeded a threshold level, or the business was identified as being an employing business (based on ATO information), as at the end of the reference period. Turnover thresholds were set for each ANZSIC class so that the contribution of surveyed businesses accounted for approximately 97.5% of total industry class turnover as determined by Business Activity Statement (BAS) data. A sample of 23,103 businesses was selected for the directly collected part of the 2010-11 EAS, including 3,996 classified to the Transport, Postal and Warehousing industry division. Each business was asked to provide data sourced primarily from financial statements, mainly by mail out questionnaires. In 2010-11 businesses were asked more detailed transport activity related questions, particularly those in the Transport, Postal and Warehousing industry division. 28 Businesses which met neither of these criteria are referred to as 'micro non-employing businesses'. These businesses were not surveyed directly. Instead BAS data for them were obtained and annualised, then added to the directly collected estimates to produce the statistics in this publication. The total estimated value of annual BAS turnover of micro non-employing businesses during the 2010-11 reference year was $43.1b, or 1.3% of total BAS turnover in Total Selected Industries. EFFECTS OF ROUNDING 29 Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between totals and the sums of the component items. 30 Proportions, ratios and other calculated figures shown in this publication have been calculated using unrounded estimates and may be different from, but are more accurate than, calculations based on the rounded estimates. FURTHER INFORMATION 31 A range of further information is available, as described below. Related publications 32 The following ABS publications present transport related data:
Other information available 33 Inquiries should be made to the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070. Acknowledgement 34 ABS publications draw extensively on information provided freely by individuals, businesses, governments and other organisations. Their continued cooperation is very much 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. Use of Australian Taxation Office (ATO) data in this publication 35 The results of these studies are based, in part, on tax data supplied by the ATO to the ABS under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936, which requires that such data are only used for statistical purposes. No individual information collected under the Census and Statistics Act 1905 is provided back to the ATO for administrative or regulatory purposes. Any discussion of data limitations or weaknesses is in the context of using the data for statistical purposes, and is not related to the ability of the data to support the ATO's core operational requirements. 36 Legislative requirements to ensure privacy and secrecy of these data have been followed. Only people authorised under the Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975 have been allowed to view data about any particular organisation and/or person in conducting these analyses. No information about individual taxpayers (persons) has been released to the ABS. Aggregated personal income tax data are confidentialised by the ATO before release to the ABS. In accordance with the Census and Statistics Act 1905 results have been confidentialised to ensure that they are not likely to enable identification of a particular person or organisation. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.
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