Monthly Business Turnover Indicator

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Experimental indicator of business turnover derived from monthly Business Activity Statements

Reference period
March 2022
Released
10/05/2022

Key statistics

In seasonally adjusted terms, the monthly business turnover indicator showed:

  • Rises in 12 of the 13 published industries in March 2022
  • The largest increase was in Arts and recreation services (18.3%)
  • Wholesale trade fell 4.2%, following rises in two consecutive months
  • Through the year, the largest rises were recorded in Mining (38.6%) followed by Transport, postal and warehousing (33.6%)
  • This experimental indicator is derived from Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Business Activity Statements (BAS) turnover data from monthly BAS remitters. It includes 13 of the 19 industry divisions classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006.
  • Monthly BAS reporting covers businesses with GST annual turnover of $20 million or more and a proportion of smaller businesses that report monthly on a voluntary basis.
  • The estimated monthly changes in business turnover are aligned as closely as is feasible to the Australian System of National Accounts concept of market output. Users should exercise caution in comparing the indicator to other ABS economic outputs due to differences in concepts, scope, coverage, and methods. 
  • Estimates in this release are subject to revisions. 

Industry

Total turnover differs between industries. This should be considered when analysing month-to-month movements in the context of overall economic activity. The chart below shows the monthly movements in the turnover indicator for March 2022 (represented by colour) and the selected industries' estimated share of total turnover for the 2020-21 financial year (represented by circle size). 

Chart showing the monthly movements in the turnover indicator for March 2022 (represented by colour) and the selected industries' estimated share of total turnover for the 2020-21 financial year (represented by circle size).
The chart has 13 circles, one for each industry division included in the Monthly Business Turnover Indicator. The size of each circle represents the share of total business turnover for the 2020-21 financial year for that industry. Circles are also given a colour shading to represent the monthly change in the Monthly Business Turnover Indicator for the current reference month. Industries with negative movements are coloured orange, those with little or no movement are grey, and positive movements are blue. The largest circles are for Wholesale trade, Retail trade, Manufacturing, Construction, and Mining. Wholesale trade is orange, showing a negative movement in business turnover. Arts and recreation services is a strong blue, showing a strong positive movement in business turnover. Arts and recreation services is relatively small based on turnover share.

Business turnover differs from the National Accounts concept of output. For example, the value of goods sold by wholesalers and subsequently retailers are reflected in turnover for both industries while National Accounts output measures the margins gained by each industry.

Industry analysis and charts

Of the 13 industry divisions included in the indicator, 12 showed increases in March 2022. The largest rises in monthly turnover were seen in Arts and recreation services (18.3%), followed by Electricity, gas, water and waste services (7.3%) and Accommodation and food services (5.9%). The rises in Arts and recreation services and Accommodation and food services coincide with further restrictions easing across multiple regions. Rises in Electricity, gas, water and waste were driven by increased demand and prices for energy.

The only industry seeing a fall this month was Wholesale trade (-4.2%). This followed two month of consecutive rises, with March falling from a record high in February.

All included industries rose through the year, with the largest rises recorded in Mining (38.6%) followed by Transport, postal and warehousing (33.6%).

Mining

Manufacturing

Electricity, gas, water and waste services

Construction

Wholesale trade

Retail trade

Accommodation and food services

Transport, postal and warehousing

Information media and telecommunications

Professional, scientific and technical services

Administrative and support services

Arts and recreation services

Other services

Data downloads

Time series spreadsheets

Data files

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Business Turnover Indicator - Monthly percentage changes and indexes, January 2010 onwards

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