Miscellaneous current transfers

13.72    There are a number of miscellaneous current transfers recorded in the ASNA. The following categories of transfers are identified and recorded separately:

1. Current transfers to non-profit institutions serving households (NPISHs);
2. Current transfers from the Commonwealth government to State and local government;
3. Current international cooperation; and
4. Other current transfers.

13.73    Current transfers to non-profit institutions serving households consist of transfers received by NPISHs from other resident or non-resident institutional units in the form of grants, membership fees, subscriptions, voluntary donations, etc. whether made on a regular or occasional basis. They are made principally by households, general government and public non-financial corporations to institutions such as hospitals, private schools, charities and religious organisations.

13.74    Transfers from households to NPISHs include membership fees and subscriptions, plus donations, bequests and legacies made by individuals. Household transfers are in scope of this category, but households and NPISHs belong to the same institutional sector in the ASNA, and consolidation means that transfers paid by households and received by NPISHs net to zero. Membership fees and subscriptions paid to market non-profit institutions serving businesses are not current transfers but payments for services rendered, and are not included in this category.

13.75    Grants from general government are a major source of income for NPISHs. They are treated as current transfers whether general purpose grants or funding provided under an agreement for a specific purpose. Volume-based government funding is currently treated in the national accounts as another type of transfer, rather than as government final consumption expenditure. It refers to funding provided under an agreement or contract specifying the volume of services to be delivered, and paid in proportion to the volume of services delivered.

13.76    Current transfers are also made by public non-financial corporations (e.g. Totalisator Agency Boards) to organisations such as racing clubs and charities. Transfers from corporations to NPISHs that cannot be regarded as payments for advertising or other services would also be included in this item.

13.77    Current transfers from the Commonwealth government to State and local government include the following:

• goods and services tax distributions to the States and Territories;
• financial assistance grants to the States and Territories;
• grants to fund State and Territory health care services, education services, social security and welfare services, and similar specific grants for current purposes;
• special revenue assistance grants provided to certain States and Territories;
• financial assistance grants for local governments which are provided through the State and Northern Territory governments; and
• grants for current purposes made directly to local government bodies.

13.78    These transfers appear only in the subsectoral income accounts for National, and for State and Local general government. They do not include transfers of funds committed to finance gross fixed capital formation because such transfers are treated as capital transfers.

13.79    Current international cooperation relates to transfers by the Commonwealth general government sector to non-residents, and includes current transfers to and payments made on behalf of Papua New Guinea, and current transfers under other bilateral aid projects, including food aid and disaster relief. The item includes contributions to the United Nations and other international organisations made by virtue of Australia's membership of these organisations, and contributions towards the cost of peacekeeping and emergency forces.

13.80    Other current transfers are compiled using a matrix-based approach – the sector paying the transfer to each counterparty sector. The counterparty flows are then aggregated to form other current transfers received and paid by sector. The quarterly transactions between sectors are benchmarked to the annual using BOP and GFS indicator series and are aggregated up for publication. This approach means that there is no quarterly imbalance. However, the lack of data for the private sectors in this matrix approach results in a data gap for current transfers between private non-financial corporations, financial corporations and households.

13.81    The 2008 SNA states that other current transfers between households are current transfers made, or received, by resident households to or from other resident or non-resident households. The ASNA, however, does not record transfers between resident households. Other current transfers between households include all cash transfers, the value of in kind transfers and regular remittances between members of the same family resident in different parts of the same country or in different countries, usually from a member of a family working in a foreign country for a period of a year or longer. Earnings remitted by seasonal workers to their families are not international transfers as the workers remain resident in their country of origin (that is, they are still members of their original households) when they work abroad for periods of less than a year. Their earnings are recorded as compensation of employees from abroad if they have the status of an employee in the non-resident country while they are working there or as the provision of services otherwise.

13.82    Other current transfers to non-residents include social assistance benefits payable to non-residents by the Commonwealth government, personal transfers and payments made overseas by residents in respect of gifts, donations, legacies, sustenance, etc. Other current transfers from non-residents consist of receipts by households of social security benefits paid by foreign governments through the Commonwealth government to residents, and gifts, donations, legacies, other pensions, etc. When households change their economy of residence, there are changes to the status for the assets they own and liabilities they owe. These changes are recorded as reclassifications through the other changes in volume of assets account.

13.83    Fines are included as other current transfers payable to general government from other institutional sectors in the sectoral income accounts. Fines are civil and criminal penalties imposed on law breakers, other than penalties imposed by taxation authorities (which are regarded as taxes). Other current transfers (other than fines) consists of unclaimed bank and superannuation accounts as well as donations to schools, hospitals and universities from the household sector; settlement of damages and grants for research from the private non-financial sector; and private health insurance levies from financial corporations.

13.84    Other current transfers between domestic institutional sectors include amounts transferred as compensation for injury to persons and damage to property arising from the actions of the donor sector or from natural disasters (excluding payments of non-life insurance claims). Both damages awarded by law courts and out of court settlements would be included here, although no such estimates are currently available.

13.85    Annual estimates of other current transfers are compiled by the sector paying the transfer to each counterparty sector. The counterparty flows are then aggregated to form other current transfers received by sector.

13.86    The tables below outline the data sources and methods used in the estimation of annual miscellaneous current transfers in current prices.

13.87    The tables below outline the data sources and methods used in the estimation of quarterly miscellaneous current transfers in current prices.