GLOSSARY
Actual Individual Consumption
To allow for the fact that the consumption of goods and services by households may be paid for, in cash or in kind, by the general government sector an alternative measure of consumption called actual individual consumption has been defined. It is measured by first separating government final consumption expenditure (GFCE) into individual and collective consumption. Individual consumption refers to services that are provided by general government to households which are consumed individually, for example health and education. Collective consumption, on the other hand, relates to the provision of public services such as policing and defence. Household actual individual consumption is measured as household final consumption expenditure plus individual consumption within GFCE. General government actual consumption is measured as GFCE less individual consumption. Actual consumption is a particularly useful measure for international comparison since countries often have different systems for providing individual services.
Compensation of Employees
The total remuneration, in cash or in kind, payable by an enterprise to an employee in return for work done by the employee during the accounting period. It is further classified into two sub-components: wages and salaries; and employers’ social contributions (payments by employers which are intended to secure for their employees the entitlement to social benefits, such as employer superannuation contributions).
Currency and Deposits
Currency consists of notes and coins that are of fixed nominal values and are issued or authorised by the central bank or government. For Australia the currency asset refers solely to domestic currency. There is little foreign currency in general circulation, and significant holdings are classified as foreign deposits. Deposits include both transferable and other deposits. Transferable deposits comprise all deposits that are exchangeable for bank notes and coins on demand at par and without penalty or restriction, and directly usable for making payments by cheque, draft, direct debit/credit or other direct payment facility. Other deposits comprise all claims, other than transferable deposits, that are represented by evidence of deposit. Typical forms of deposits that should be included are savings deposits (which are always non-transferable), fixed term deposits and non-negotiable certificates of deposit.
Final Consumption Expenditure
Final consumption expenditure is net expenditure on goods and services by persons and expenditure of a current nature by private non-profit institutions serving households. This item excludes expenditures by unincorporated businesses and expenditures on assets by non-profit institutions (included in gross fixed capital formation). Also excluded is expenditure on maintenance of dwellings (treated as intermediate expenses of private enterprises), but personal expenditure on motor vehicles and other durable goods and the imputed rent of owner occupied dwellings are included. The value of 'backyard' production (including food produced and consumed on farms) is included in household final consumption expenditure and the payment of wages and salaries in kind (e.g. food and lodging supplied free to employees) is counted in both household income and household final consumption expenditure.
Gross Disposable Income
Gross disposable income is gross household income less income tax payable, other current taxes on income, wealth etc., consumer debt interest, interest payable by unincorporated enterprises, net non-life insurance premiums and other current transfers payable by households.
Gross Mixed Income
The surplus or deficit accruing from production by unincorporated enterprises. It includes elements of both compensation of employees and operating surplus (returns on capital inputs).
Gross Operating Surplus - Dwellings Owned by Persons
Dwelling "GOS" is the surplus resulting from deduction of intermediate inputs from output. Output is the sum of actual and imputed rent on dwellings owned by households. Intermediate inputs are the goods and services consumed in the process of production (for example maintenance costs and body corporate fees). These inputs exclude property income payments such as interest.
Income Tax Payable
Income tax consists of taxes on the income of households and taxes on wealth which are levied regularly (wealth taxes which are levied irregularly are classified as capital taxes and are recorded in the sectoral capital accounts).
Insurance Technical Reserves
Insurance technical reserves comprise financial assets that are reserves against reserves outstanding risks, reserves for with-profit insurance, prepayments of premiums and reserves against outstanding claims. Insurance technical reserves may be liabilities not only of life or non-life insurance enterprises (whether mutual or incorporated) but also of autonomous pension funds, which are included in the insurance enterprise sub-sector, and certain non-autonomous pension funds that are included in the institutional sector that manages the funds. Insurance technical reserves are subdivided between net equity of households on life insurance reserves and on pension funds, and prepayments of premiums and reserves against outstanding claims.
Interest Payable
Household interest payable mainly consists of interest payable on loans on dwellings (mortgages).
Loans and Placements
Loans are borrowings which are not evidenced by the issue of debt securities, and are not usually traded and their value does not decline even in a period of rising interest rates. Placements are customers’ account balances with entities not regarded as deposit-taking institutions. Examples are account balances of State and local public non-financial corporations with their central borrowing authorities, of public sector pension funds with their State Treasuries, and 11am money placed with corporate treasuries.
Property Income Receivable
Property income receivable is the income receivable by the owners of a financial asset or a tangible non-produced asset in return for providing funds. Household property income mainly consists of dividend and interest income earned directly and through superannuation and insurance reserves.
Residential Dwellings and Land
Residential dwellings and land is the portion of dwellings and land primarily used as household residences. Dwellings are buildings that are used entirely or primarily as residences, including any associated structures, such as garages, and all permanent fixtures customarily installed in residences. Houseboats, barges, mobile homes and caravans used as principal residences of households are also included, as are historic monuments identified primarily as dwellings. The costs of site clearance and preparation are also included in the value of dwellings. Land consists of the ground, including the soil covering and any associated surface waters, over which ownership rights are enforced and from which economic benefits can be derived by their owners by holding or using them.
Shares and Other Equity
Equity has the distinguishing feature that the holders own a residual claim on the assets of the institutional unit that issued the equity. Equity represents the owner’s funds in the institutional unit. Equities are sub-divided into listed shares and unlisted shares; both types of shares are negotiable and so are classified as equity securities.
Social Assistance Benefits
Includes current transfers to persons from general government in return for which no services are rendered or goods supplied. Principal components include: scholarships; maternity, sickness and unemployment benefits; family allowances; and widows', age, invalid and repatriation pensions.
Social Transfers in Kind
Social transfers in kind are individual goods and services provided to individual households by general government units and non-profit institutions either free or at prices that are not economically significant, examples are education and health services.
Superannuation Benefits Received (memorandum item)
Superannuation benefits received are recorded in this information paper as a memorandum item of the household income account. Superannuation benefits received in the ASNA are treated as financial transactions of households and are not recorded as income; instead they are recorded in the financial account and balance sheet.
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