Australian National Accounts: Input-Output Tables (Product Details) methodology

Latest release
Reference period
2017-18 financial year

Explanatory notes

Modelled estimates of usage

In the compilation of Input-Output (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 very small values may be estimated in certain cells and the statistical accuracy of these data cannot be verified.

Rounding of estimates and lower level estimates

The details contained in this publication represent the lowest level at which information from the I-O tables Australian National Accounts: Input-Output Tables (cat. no. 5209.0.55.001) is available. The I-O spreadsheets here contain data rounded to the nearest one million dollars at the total by product level for supply and use, in both basic prices and purchasers' prices. This rounding has been applied as the ABS does not have confidence in the statistical accuracy of the estimated values for cells less than $500,000. For analytical purposes the values of margins, taxes and subsidies (used to move from basic prices to purchasers' prices) are displayed to the nearest one million dollars. However, the individual cells in selected spreadsheets have not been rounded to this level and contain values to 3 decimal places. Data at this level should be used with caution as these values are a direct result of various modelling techniques used in their derivation.

Additivity - sum of the components may not equal total

The sum of the components may not equal the reported total in all cases. This has been caused by small values (less than $500,000) being assigned to different industries or products as part of the modelling processes used in the compilation of I-O tables. Cells with a value of less than $500,000, while not displayed in the tables, have been included in the total values. The totals reported, however, relate to the information released in Australian National Accounts: Input-Output Tables (cat. no. 5209.0.55.001) and sum to the same values.

Products combined for confidentiality purposes

The information contained in these product details has been confidentialised. This confidentiality has been applied through the suppression of some values (shown as 'n.p.').

Departures from 2008 SNA

I-O tables depart from the 2008 System of National Accounts (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 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 based on questions on collection forms about invoicing arrangements and transport expenses.

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

Table 1. Product details

Table 2. 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