ADDITIONAL NATIONAL ACCOUNT MEASURES

In addition to the core set of Australian national accounts statistics, the ABS compiles and publishes more detailed and specialised products which enable a better understanding of particular economic entities or processes. This section briefly outlines the following outputs: financial accounts, input-output tables, satellite accounts and productivity measures.


FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS

The ABS produces quarterly and annual information on the levels of financial assets and liabilities of each institutional sector of the economy, the market for financial instruments, and inter-sectoral transactions in financial assets and liabilities classified by financial instrument. The financial accounts provide an insight into the borrowing and lending activities of each sector within the economy. The financial accounts also provide information on the composition of financial instruments issued by the various sectors during a particular period. National and sectoral financial accounts, which show major financial aggregates, are published annually in Australian System of National Accounts (5204.0). For more information see chapter 27 FINANCIAL SYSTEM and the publication Australian National Accounts: Financial Accounts (5232.0).


INPUT-OUTPUT TABLES

Input-output (I-O) tables are an integral part of the Australian System of National Accounts. They present a comprehensive view of the supply and use of products in the economy and the incomes generated from production. The tables are based on the relationship in which the value of the output of each industry is expressed as the sum of the values of all the inputs to that industry. These inputs include the compensation of employees, gross operating surplus and gross mixed income, taxes on production paid less any subsidies received and the use of the outputs of other industries (e.g. the output of steel from the steel industry may be used as an input by the motor vehicle industry as part of the process of producing cars).

I-O tables provide a comprehensive level of detail, presenting information on 112 industry and product groups. As a result, they show a much more detailed disaggregation of the production account than is available in Australian System of National Accounts (5204.0). I-O tables show the flows of products (goods and services) through the production process.

The tables are essentially an accounting record of the flows in the economy in a reference year. Analytically, the I-O tables show total resources in terms of domestic output and imports, and the uses of goods and services in terms of intermediate consumption, final consumption, gross fixed capital formation and exports. They are mostly used to investigate the likely effects on the rest of the economy from observed or postulated disturbances to part of it. Such examples include the effects of an increase or decrease in the demand for a product, the substitution of imports for local production and an increase in wages.

A major use of the I-O tables has been to support the modelling of the impacts of proposed schemes to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.

Supply-use (S-U) tables are also compiled as a part of the Australian System of National Accounts. In essence, they are simpler constructs of an I-O table and are an integral part of the compilation of I-O tables. They are also used to derive aggregates in Australian System of National Accounts (5204.0) and are compiled every year for three adjacent reference periods. The I-O approach to compiling GDP estimates allows for the quarterly current price GDP figures to be benchmarked to balanced S-U tables. At the time the I-O tables are compiled, the measures of current price annual GDP and its components are consistent between S-U tables, I-O tables and the production account. The most recent set of I-O tables available are for 2007–08. For more information, see Australian National Accounts: Input-Output tables – Electronic Publication (5209.0.55.001).


SATELLITE ACCOUNTS

The concept of a satellite account was introduced in the 1993 System of National Accounts to expand the core national accounts for selected areas of interest, while using relevant concepts and structures from the core national accounts. Satellite accounts allow the development of an integrated set of statistics about a particular activity that crosses a number of industries or sectors.

Tourism satellite account (TSA)

The TSA is produced annually and measures the contribution of tourism to the Australian economy. The emphasis in the TSA is on the measurement of tourism consumption and the size of the tourism industry, including its contribution to GDP. Within the TSA, a number of key economic measures associated with tourism are able to be identified. These include tourism gross value added, tourism GDP, the tourism share of the value added of major tourism related industries, total household and business tourism consumption by type of products, consumption by overseas visitors and employment generated by tourism. Together, these data form an integrated set of statistics on tourism within the framework of international standards. For more information, refer to chapter 23 TOURISM and the publication, Australian National Accounts: Tourism Satellite Account (5249.0).

Information and communication technology satellite account (ICTSA)

The ICTSA was produced in respect of 2002–03 and measured the contribution of information and communication technology (ICT) to the Australian economy in 2002–03, in particular, the contribution of ICT to key macroeconomic variables such as GDP. It provided details on Australian production of various ICT products, as well as related imports, exports, household consumption, business spending and investment. Together, these data form an integrated set of statistics on ICT within the framework of international standards. For more information, refer to the publication, Australian National Accounts: Information and Communication Technology Satellite Account (5259.0).

Non-profit institutions (NPIs) satellite account (NPISA)

NPIs play an important role in the provision of welfare, social and other services in Australia. The NPISA was produced in respect of 2006–07 and provided information on the economic impact of NPIs. The NPISA presented estimates of the direct contribution that NPIs made to the Australian economy and, in particular, the contribution of NPIs to key macroeconomic variables such as GDP. As this satellite account is an integrated set of statistics on NPIs within the internationally recognised 1993 System of National Accounts, it provides a valuable policy and research tool with a wide range of applications. For more information, refer to the publication, Australian National Accounts: Non-Profit Institutions Satellite Account (5256.0).


PRODUCTIVITY ESTIMATES

Measures of productivity growth are important in understanding long-term improvements in Australia's living standards and changes in Australia's international competitiveness. At the most basic level, productivity growth occurs when the volume of output rises faster than the volume of inputs. A limited selection of productivity estimates are published as part of Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product (5206.0) with a more detailed range of statistics and analysis of productivity estimates published in Australian System of National Accounts (5204.0). For more information, see Industry productivity in chapter 15 INDUSTRY STRUCTURE AND PERFORMANCE