Sources and methods - Quarterly

The annual benchmarks are allocated to quarters using gross operating profits data from the Quarterly Business Indicators Survey.

For incomplete years the quarterly estimates of private non-financial corporations GOS are calculated by extrapolating the latest quarterly estimates that have been benchmarked to an overall annual level. The movements in the gross operating profits data from the Quarterly Business Indicators Survey are used as the indicator.

Annual non-farm GMI estimates are allocated to the quarters and extrapolated for quarters in year t-1 (and quarters in the incomplete year) based on a combination of QBIS data for unincorporated enterprises, average weekly earnings and labour force self-employed data as indicators.

This provides an estimate for the majority of the unincorporated non-farm businesses but due to the limitations of the QBIS data when surveying unincorporated enterprises, additional sources are required:

• Construction – uses the movement in the value of work done from the Building Activity Survey,
• Health and Community services – uses the movement in the household final consumption expenditure on medical and dental services.

A range of indicators are used to allocate annual estimates of farm GMI to quarters. Estimates for the current years’ quarters are derived as a quarterly allocation of forecast annual totals. The allocations are based on estimated patterns of production and costs and are progressively updated as data become available. As mentioned previously, the annual estimates (including forecasts) largely depend on the Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resources and Sciences data, which are regularly revised to reflect weather and market conditions.

Annual estimates of the gross value of production for:

• wheat and barley – allocated to quarters on the basis of historical receivals data supplied by the respective marketing boards;
• other grains and crops – largely allocated according to proportions derived on the basis of the applicable harvesting season;
• livestock slaughterings – allocated to quarters using estimates of the quantity of meat produced, obtained from the quarterly publication, Livestock Products, Australia; and
• wool production – is split into two categories:
  • shorn wool – derived using wool receivals data published in the ABS publications, Livestock Products, Australia and Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced, Australia, and data from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES); and
  • skin wool – derived using quarterly lamb and sheep slaughterings data from the ABS publication, Livestock Products, Australia, and the average greasy wool price from the Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX).

Annual estimates of farm production costs are allocated to quarters on the basis of the pattern of usage appropriate for each particular input. Some inputs are particularly seasonal, such as seed, fodder, fertilisers, fuel usage and the wages of seasonal workers.

Other inputs, such as marketing costs, are allocated according to the estimated gross value of production in each quarter or on the basis of linear trend.

GOS for ownership of dwellings on a quarterly basis is derived as:

     Output at basic prices
     less intermediate consumption
     less other taxes on production
     plus other subsidies on production.

An estimate of GOS for dwellings owned by sectors other than households is deducted to obtain GOS for dwellings owned by persons. 

The output estimate is equivalent to the estimate of household final consumption expenditure on imputed rentals for housing plus the actual rental on housing. No further adjustments are made.

The data sources and methods used to compile quarterly estimates of imputed rentals on housing and actual rental on housing are described in Chapter 10 (see Table 10.18 Quarterly household final consumption expenditure - Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels).

Intermediate use related to dwellings owned by persons GOS includes:

• repairs and maintenance;
• building insurance;
• FISIM;
• real estate agent commissions charged for the management of rental properties;
• loan application fees;
• other direct charges by financial corporations; and
• miscellaneous expenses.

GOS of general government is equivalent to the value of consumption of fixed capital on general government assets because, by convention, the value of general government gross output is measured as the cost of producing that output, including consumption of fixed capital.

GOS is calculated as gross output less the costs incurred in producing that output (but before deducting consumption of fixed capital), leaving consumption of fixed capital as the residual.

On a quarterly basis estimates of consumption of fixed capital at current prices for general government (general government GOS) are derived by extrapolation using a linear trend model.

The quarterly estimates for GOS of financial corporations are derived by producing output indicators series within the subcategories:

• financial services;
• insurance and superannuation funds services; and
• auxiliary finance and insurance services.

The output indicator is made up of the following:

• Life Insurance – the quarterly source data indicator is the operating expenses for total life insurance businesses sourced from the Quarterly Life Insurance Performance Statistics published by APRA. The quarterly insurance service charge indicator for Life Insurance is calculated using the quarterly movement of the indicator source data against the previous quarter’s insurance service charge indicator for Life Insurance.
• Superannuation funds – there are two quarterly source data indicators used for Superannuation funds. Total investment expenses and total operating expenses of superannuation funds are sourced from the Quarterly Superannuation Performance Statistics report published by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority. The quarterly insurance service charge indicator for superannuation funds is calculated using the quarterly movement of the indicator source data against the previous quarter’s insurance service charge indicator for Superannuation funds.
• Non-life insurance – the insurance service charge indicator for non-life insurance is estimated via a linear trend interpolation of the annual estimates.

A weighted (based on the annual insurance service charge estimates) sum of the three components is derived to produce a quarterly indicator of the insurance service charge.