5216.0 - Australian National Accounts: Concepts, Sources and Methods, 2000  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 15/11/2000   
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Contents >> Chapter 15: Gross capital formation >> Acquisitions less disposals of non-produced non-financial assets

Acquisitions less disposals of non-produced non-financial assets

Description

15.105 This component covers purchases less sales of land, subsoil assets and intangible non-produced assets such as patented entities, leases or other transferable contracts and purchased goodwill. At present though, estimates of the value of purchased goodwill are not compiled for the Australian system of national accounts. As mentioned in paragraph 15.4, such purchases are regarded as capital in nature and, therefore, are included in relevant capital accounts, but they do not form part of gross fixed capital formation. Land is defined to include the soil covering and associated surface water. Subsoil assets consist of known deposits of coal, oil, gas or other fuels and metallic ores, and non-metallic minerals, etc., that are located below or on the earth's surface, including deposits under the sea.

15.106 In principle, where transactions in residential and non-residential buildings occur, the land component should be reported separately from the building component but, in practice, the total sales value is recorded as gross fixed capital formation. The value of transfer costs involved in the transaction (such as stamp duties, agents' commissions and lawyers' fees) is included in gross fixed capital formation. Because of the lack of available data, estimates for the purchase of land, subsoil assets and intangible non-produced assets (net) in the ASNA represent only those transactions identified in the accounts of non-residents, general government and public corporations. The net purchases of land, subsoil assets and intangible non-produced assets by non-residents, general government units and public corporations are assumed to equal the net amount of such sales by private corporations, and no entry is shown for households.

Annual estimates

15.107 Estimates for public authorities are obtained from the ABS's public finance statistics. For Commonwealth, State and Territory governments, data are extracted from administrative sources such as Commonwealth and State Budget Papers, Auditors'-General Reports and Commonwealth Department of Finance and Administration ledgers. For local government, a joint ABS/Commonwealth Grants Commission annual return is collected from each local government authority. Estimates for public non-financial corporations and selected marketing authorities are based on annual financial statements and Auditors'-General Reports. Estimates for public financial corporations are compiled from data collected by the ABS in the annual Survey of Expenditure on Fixed Assets. As indicated in the previous paragraph, the net purchases of land, subsoil assets and intangible non-produced assets by general government and public corporations are assumed to equal the net amount of such sales by private corporations and no entry is shown for households.

Quarterly estimates

15.108 Quarterly estimates for this component for domestic sectors are not published in the quarterly national accounts publication (Cat. no. 5206.0). However, acquisitions less disposals of non-produced non-financial assets by non-residents are recorded in the external account and the national capital account. The series is obtained directly from balance of payments statistics.



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