Monthly Business Turnover Indicator

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Experimental indicator of business turnover derived from monthly Business Activity Statements

Reference period
October 2022
Released
13/12/2022

Key statistics

In seasonally adjusted terms, the October 2022 monthly business turnover indicator showed:

  • Rises in nine of the 13 published industries 
  • The largest rise was in Electricity, gas, water and waste services (2.5%)
  • The largest fall was in Arts and recreation services (-3.9%)
  • Through the year, rises were seen in all 13 published industries
  • 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.

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 October 2022 (represented by colour) and the selected industries' estimated share of total turnover for the 2021-22 financial year (represented by circle size). 

Chart showing the monthly movements in the turnover indicator for October 2022 (represented by colour) and the selected industries' estimated share of total turnover for the 2021-22 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 2021-22 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 Manufacturing, Mining, Wholesale trade, and Retail trade. Electricity, gas, water and waste services is coloured blue, showing a positive movement in business turnover. Arts and recreation services is orange, showing a negative movement in business turnover.

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

In October 2022, nine of the 13 industry divisions included in the indicator showed increases to turnover in seasonally adjusted terms. The largest rises in monthly turnover were seen in:

  • Electricity, gas, water and waste services (2.5%)
  • Construction (1.8%)
  • Wholesale trade (1.8%)

Of the four industries that showed falls in October 2022, the largest were in:

  • Arts and recreation services (-3.9%)
  • Retail trade (-2.5%)
  • Transport, postal and warehousing (-2.4%)

Some industries within the monthly business turnover indicator have experienced volatility in turnover over recent years, however this is the first time since June 2018 that no monthly movement has been greater than four percentage points.

All industry divisions recorded year-on-year increases in business turnover in October 2022, compared with the COVID-19 Delta period in October 2021. The largest rises were recorded in:

  • Accommodation and food services (43.4%)
  • Arts and recreation services (42.8%)
  • Transport, Postal and warehousing (35.8%)

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

Data Explorer datasets

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For more information about Data Explorer, see the Data Explorer user guide.

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

Trend Graphs for Selected Industries

Trend Graphs for Selected Industries

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