Australian National Accounts: Input-Output Tables methodology

This is not the latest release View the latest release
Reference period
2017-18 financial year
Released
29/05/2020

Explanatory notes

A glossary of the main terms used in the Input-Output (I-O) tables is in the link on the left. The links below contain fuller discussion of the I-O structure and compilation methods.

Explanatory notes covering the basic structure of I-O and associated tables, special treatments adopted in compiling I–O tables, and using I–O tables for analysis are shown in Australian System of National Accounts: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 5216.0), Chapter 22, Input-Output Tables.

The I-O tables contain data formatted for presentation in millions of dollars. For use by some analysts and modellers, the data in some Excel spreadsheets contain additional decimal places to facilitate loading into other applications. Note that in the compilation of I-O tables, various modelling techniques are used to populate the tables because directly collected information is not available for every cell. As a consequence of these modelling techniques, relatively small values may be estimated in certain cells but the statistical accuracy of these data cannot be verified to a sufficient degree. Where values less than $1 million are shown, they are solely to facilitate reconciliation, row and column balancing and do not carry any economic meaning.

See also the Input-Output Quality Declaration for discussion of compilation sources and methods.

Departures from the 2008 version of the System of National Accounts (2008 SNA)

I-O tables depart from the 2008 SNA and from the rest of the Australian national accounts in one main respect - namely the definition of output at basic prices. The departure relates to the treatment of charges incurred in moving goods from their point of production to the final user, where delivery charges relating to delivery by a third party operator arranged by the producer and paid for by the producer and not separately charged to the end user are treated differently in 2008 SNA.

Under the 1968 version of the System of National Accounts (1968 SNA) these charges were excluded from the basic price valuation of the good concerned while under the 2008 SNA treatment the basic price valuation of the good includes these delivery charges. The ABS considers that the change in definition was inappropriate from an analytical point of view and would result in the same product being valued differently depending on whether or not the producer charged separately for the delivery of the product. The ABS therefore applies an adjustment to the I-O tables to reallocate delivery charges separably invoiced to transport, so including them in transport margins and reducing basic prices.

In the 2017-18 I-O tables the value of this adjustment is $46.1b. It is applied to industries and products in agriculture, mining and manufacturing and modelled based on questions on collection forms about invoicing arrangements and transport expenses.

The following notes explain the content and structure of the data in each table

Table 1. Australian production by product group by industry

Table 2. Input by industry and final use category and imports by product group

Table 3. Imports - supply by product group and inputs by industry and final use category

Table 4. Reconciliation of flows at basic prices and purchasers' prices by product group

Table 5. Industry by industry flow table (direct allocation of imports)

Table 6. Direct requirement coefficients (direct allocation of imports)

Table 7. Total requirement coefficients (direct allocation of imports)

Table 8. Industry by industry flow table (indirect allocation of imports)

Table 9. Direct requirement coefficients (indirect allocation of imports)

Table 10. Total requirement coefficients (indirect allocation of imports)

Table 17. Primary input content (total requirements) per $100 of final use by industry

Table 19. Specialisation and coverage ratios by industry

​​​​​​​Table 21. Composition of supply of products containing margins

Table 23. Wholesale margin on supply by product group by using industry and final use category

​​​​​​​Table 24. Retail margin on supply by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 25. Restaurants, hotels and clubs margin on supply by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 26. Road transport margin on supply by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 27. Rail transport margin on supply by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 28. Pipeline transport margin on supply by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 29. Water transport margin on supply by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 30. Air transport margin on supply by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 31. Port handling margin on supply by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 32. Marine insurance margin on supply by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 33. Gas margin on supply by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 34. Electricity margin on supply by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 35. Net taxes on products by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 36. Goods and services tax on products by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 37. Duty on products by product group by using industry and final use category

​​​​​​​Table 38. Taxes on products nei by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 39. Subsidies on products by product group by using industry and final use category

Table 40. Industry and product concordances

Glossary

Show all

Quality declaration - summary

Institutional environment

Relevance

Timeliness

Accuracy

Coherence

Interpretability

Accessibility

Abbreviations

Show all

Back to top of the page