This document was added or updated on 27/06/2006.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
INTRODUCTION
1 This publication presents estimates of sales of goods and services, employment, wages and salaries and other selected expenses, and profits of private sector businesses operating on Norfolk Island during the year ended June 2005. These statistics have been compiled from data collected from Norfolk Island businesses by officers of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) during May 2006. Some limited additional data relating to the year ended December 2005 and the March quarter 2006 were also obtained.
SCOPE AND COVERAGE
2 The scope of the Norfolk Island Business Survey was all private sector businesses operating on Norfolk Island during the year ended June 2005. For practical purposes, a cut-off was implemented, whereby any business with turnover in 2004-05 less than $3,000 was excluded from the scope of the survey. Similarly for practical reasons, the activities of visiting professionals such as doctors, auditors, etc were also excluded. These exclusions are assessed as not having a significant effect on the data.
3 Unlike most ABS business collections conducted in Australia, where the statistical populations are drawn from the ABS Business Register, there was no readily available list of private sector businesses for the survey. The population of businesses was compiled from a variety of sources available on Norfolk Island such as the Norfolk Island Yellow and White Pages and public documents such as lists of registered accommodation establishments and business name registers and then eliminating duplicated entries. This list was then supplemented by businesses identified during the course of the collection.
4 Finally, there was extensive publicity on the Island about the survey and there were instances where residents rang ABS officers requesting that their business be included. Inevitably, some businesses will have missed being included, but it is thought that these omissions would not contribute significantly to the overall estimates, although the impact would vary from industry to industry.
5 The scope of the survey excluded public sector businesses (i.e departments of the Norfolk Island Administration, government business enterprises and any activities of Australian Government departments). Data for Norfolk Island public sector operations, including government business enterprises are available in the Norfolk Island Annual Report, 2004-05
STATISTICAL UNIT
6 The statistical unit adopted for this survey was broadly the business. In practical terms this equated to the physical location except for businesses primarily engaged in Agriculture, Transport and Construction activities, where all operations of the business were reported.
7 There was one further exception to the physical location concept. This was in respect of significant restaurants operated in major tourist accommodation locations where for the purposes of this survey the accommodation and restaurant activities were treated as separate business units.
8 This definition of a business unit worked relatively well as, for most businesses, their business records equated to the statistical unit. Businesses which operated at more than one physical location, in the vast majority of instances, were able to supply some information for each activity that enabled statistical returns of acceptable quality to be compiled.
CLASSIFICATION
9 The Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) has been developed for use in the production and analysis of industry statistics and was the classification used in classifying businesses in this survey. For more information, users are referred to Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (cat. no. 1292.0). Each business unit (as defined above) has been classified to the ANZSIC industry in which it mainly operates.
10 Data in this publication have been presented for the following ANZSIC 2006 industries:
Agriculture, forestry and fishing - Division A
Mining, manufacturing and construction - Divisions B, C and E
Retail trade - Division G
Accommodation - Subdivision 44
Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services - Group 451
Clubs (Hospitality), pubs, taverns and bars - Groups 452 and 453
Total, Accommodation and food services - Division H
Travel agency and tourist arrangement services - Class 7220
All other industries - Divisions D, F, I, J, K, L, M, N (excluding Class 7220), P, Q, R and S.
STATISTICAL COLLECTION METHODOLOGY
11 Most business statistics collections undertaken by the ABS are conducted using a mail-out, mail-back approach to selected businesses. However, in earlier discussions with Norfolk Island business representatives, there was some concern expressed that many businesses did not maintain detailed accounting records and would need some assistance to be "talked through" the survey form. Because of this, and given the short statistical collection period available, it was decided that a personal visit approach to businesses should be adopted.
12 The survey was undertaken by ABS officers who were located on Norfolk Island for a two week period commencing 1 May 2006, and who attempted to visit each identified business to explain the survey objectives and content. If feasible, data were obtained at that initial interview, otherwise a form was left and arrangements were made to return and collect the form.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE CONTRIBUTION BY THE NORFOLK ISLAND BUSINESS COMMUNITY
13 With the cooperation of the vast majority of the Norfolk Island business community, these arrangements worked very well. Response rates (discussed in more detail below) for a voluntary statistical collection of this type were exceptionally good and significantly exceeded ABS' initial expectations. As a result, the data contained in this publication are of a higher quality than originally envisaged.
14 The cooperation and assistance of the people of Norfolk Island was greatly appreciated by the ABS officers involved. It certainly made their task easier as did the help from officers of the Norfolk Island Administration and Office of the Administrator.
ABS WEBSITE
15 The key indicators and main features from this publication are published on the ABS web site at <https://www.abs.gov.au>.
DATA AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
16 As well as the statistics included in this publication, the ABS may have other relevant data available on request. The availability of any additional data from this survey are subject to confidentiality and data quality checks. Inquiries of this type should be made to paul.sullivan@abs.gov.au.
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