Quarterly Business Indicators Survey for ABS Business Reporting

The questions cover income, employment, labour costs and other expenses. We may also ask for operating profit and inventory figures depending on the size, industry and other characteristics of your business. 

Each business included in QBIS has been selected to make sure the statistics we produce represent the whole Australian business community.  

We include businesses of varying sizes, industries and locations throughout Australia so that we can be sure our statistics tell the whole story.

Participation in ABS surveys is an opportunity to make a real difference. 

Information you and others provide helps build a picture of businesses across Australia. As a small business, what you report will help government and industry understand the challenges and successes that businesses like yours are experiencing. Your participation informs decisions that can impact you, your business and your community. 

Yes. Under the Census and Statistics Act 1905, you are obliged to provide the information requested by the ABS. We follow up delayed responses and will assist if you have difficulties. 

The length of time that a business is selected in any particular survey will depend on factors such as the size of the business, the number of businesses with similar characteristics, and how significant the activities of the business are to the overall results. 

Smaller businesses have a lower chance of selection and will usually be included in QBIS for three years at a time. However, there are exceptions to this. Some small businesses may need to report for longer than three years.

Yes.

People who use QBIS statistics need the most accurate and timely information possible. This is so they can make informed decisions that may impact you, your business and your community. If exact figures are not available when completing your survey, please provide careful estimates.

Yes. 

Protecting your privacy and keeping your information secure is of the utmost importance to the ABS.

The information you provide will remain strictly confidential to the ABS. You and the business you are reporting for will not be identifiable in any published results. The ABS Privacy Policy for Statistical Information outlines how we use your personal information to keep it safe. To view our policy visit www.abs.gov.au/privacy 

Information you provide for QBIS helps government and industry to understand what businesses like yours are experiencing. The due date for QBIS means what they see is up to date, and decisions made from that information are timely. 

If exact figures are not available when completing your survey, please provide careful estimates. 

You cannot edit previously submitted surveys through ABS Business Reporting. If you need to make a change to information you have provided, please call us on 1800 642 149 (+61 2 6252 8802 overseas).

If your business was sold before the beginning of the quarter, please call us on 1800 642 149 (+61 2 6252 8802 overseas) to let us know.

If your business was sold during the reference period and you still have access to the accounts up to the sale date, report what you have and provide a comment to indicate the date of sale. Please also indicate the name of the new business owner if known. 

If you no longer have access to the accounts, please call us on 1800 642 149 (+61 2 6252 8802 overseas) to advise us of the date of sale, and the name of the new business owner if known.

If your business was operating but did not trade during the quarter, you will still need to submit your survey with zero figures. A comment to indicate why the business did not trade will also help us to understand your situation.  

When you connect to your accounting software in ABS Business Reporting, selecting your accounts will produce a survey with zeros in all fields. If your business resumes trade in future, the accounts you have selected can be reused. Alternatively, you can enter zero figures manually. 

If your business has gone into liquidation or administration during the quarter, please complete the survey using figures up to, and including, the day that the business was liquidated or went into administration. Please also provide a comment to indicate the date this occurred. 

If you cannot access the accounts, then the liquidator or administrator should complete the survey. Where this is not possible, best available estimates of the data should be provided. It is acceptable to provide an estimate based on a percentage change from the previous year’s figures. 

Please call us on 1800 642 149 (+61 2 6252 8802 overseas) if estimates are not possible and one of our team will be happy to assist you.

Employment is a headcount of all people who worked for the business as proprietors, partners, salaried directors, or other employees in the reference pay period. It excludes contractors and casual or seasonal employees who are on the payroll, but did not work during this pay period. 

Sales and services income includes all gross income from the sale of goods or provision of services from each state/territory your business operates in. This excludes the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and is net of any discounts given. 

Please include:

• sales or transfers to related businesses or to overseas branches of this business
• for long term contracts include progress payments billed
• export sales (f.o.b.)
• rent, leasing and hiring income
• income from consulting services
• repair and service income and fees
• contract, subcontract and commission income
• management fees/charges from related and unrelated businesses
• sponsorship income
• income from operating leases
• delivery charges separately invoiced or itemised to customers
• commission earned from providing the service of travel bookings
• total income earned from tours directly provided
• commission earned from providing services
• income earned from the provision of labour hire or recruitment services.

Please exclude:

• excise and duties received (on behalf of the government)
• sales of assets
• export freight charges
• interest income
• income from finance leases
• payments received under hire purchase arrangements
• royalties income
• natural resource royalties income.

For wages and salaries including employee entitlements, please include all wages and salaries, including provisions for employee entitlements, as gross (i.e. before tax).

Please include: 

• severances, terminations and redundancies 
• salaries and fees of directors and executives 
• retainers and commissions of persons who received a retainer 
• bonuses 
• annual and other types of leave 
• share based payments (e.g. stock options) 
• wage subsidies received from government. 

Please do not include: 

• payments made under the Australian Government’s Paid Parental Leave Scheme 
• salary sacrifice 
• payments to self-employed persons such as consultants, contractors and persons paid solely by commission without a retainer 
• payroll tax 
• Fringe Benefits Tax 
• employer superannuation contributions 
• workers compensation premiums/costs.

People employed on a fixed term contract (e.g. temporary staff or workforce), should only be included if they were paid through the payroll during the reference pay period and Pay As You Go (PAYG) tax was deducted for them. 

Contractors and subcontractors who are separate businesses (i.e. have their own ABN and are paid on a fee for service or commission only basis) should not be counted in the Wages section of your survey. 

If your business paid another business for contract staff, and those persons were on the payroll of the other business, they should not be counted in the Wages section of your survey. 

For superannuation, please only include employer contributions paid into superannuation, including additional salary sacrificed superannuation contributions. This does not include personal superannuation contributions for business owners not drawing a wage.

We provide statistics free of charge on our website. Statistics produced from QBIS are published in Business Indicators, Australia and contribute to statistics in the Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product. 

If you have participated in this survey, or any of our other surveys, we want to hear about your experience.  

Use our online Business Surveys Contact Form to provide feedback, or alternatively you can contact us on 1800 642 149 (+61 2 6252 8802 overseas) Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm AEST.