Business Indicators, Australia

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Quarterly estimates of private sector sales, wages, profits and inventories

Reference period
September 2020
Released
30/11/2020

Key statistics

Current price estimates for the September quarter 2020:

  • Company gross operating profits rose 3.2% seasonally adjusted 
  • Wages and salaries rose 2.4% seasonally adjusted 

Chain volume estimates for the September quarter 2020:

  • Inventories fell 0.5% seasonally adjusted

Main features

 Jun Qtr 20 to Sep Qtr 20Sep Qtr 19 to Sep Qtr 20
%%
Sales of goods and services (Chain volume measures)  
 Manufacturing  
  Trend

na

na

  Seasonally Adjusted

4.3

-1.6

 Wholesale trade  
  Trend

na

na

  Seasonally Adjusted

3.8

-1.8

Inventories (Chain volume measures)  
 Trend

na

na

 Seasonally Adjusted

-0.5

-4.6

Company gross operating profits  
 Trend

na

na

 Seasonally Adjusted

3.2

18.6

Wages and salaries  
 Seasonally Adjusted

2.4

0.4

*na - not available. Trend estimates have been suspended due to the impacts of COVID-19

 

 

Inventories

Trend estimates have been suspended

 

Company gross operating profits

Trend estimates have been suspended

 

September key points

Chain volume estimates

  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for inventories fell 0.5% in the September quarter 2020.
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for Manufacturing sales of goods and services rose 4.3% this quarter.
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for Wholesale trade sales of goods and services rose 3.8%.
     

Current prices estimates

  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for company gross operating profits rose 3.2%.
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for wages and salaries rose 2.4%.
     

Comparison between company gross operating profits and gross operating surplus

    Valuation changes have had an impact on the value of inventories held by Australian businesses this quarter. An Inventories Valuation Adjustment (IVA) is applied in the calculation of the Gross Operating Surplus of private non-financial corporations (GOS) estimate in the Australian National Accounts. The IVA for the September quarter is -$458m which is $1,083 higher than the June quarter 2020 IVA of -$1,541m.

    No adjustment is made to the Company Gross Operating Profits (CGOP) estimate in this publication and, as a result, users should exercise caution when comparing CGOP and GOS. It should be noted that there are other differences between the two series. In particular, changes are made to GOS when annual benchmarks are applied and slightly different seasonal factors apply to the two series. Given this, while CGOP movements are an appropriate indicator for GOS, the two series will not have equivalent seasonally adjusted movements from quarter to quarter.

    Re-referencing of chain volume estimates

    Each September quarter the reference and base year for chain volume estimates for the Business Indicators Survey are updated. A new base, 2018-19, has been introduced into the chain volume estimates which has resulted in minor revisions to growth rates in subsequent periods. In addition, the chain volume estimates have been re-referenced to 2018-19. Additivity is preserved in the quarters of the reference year and subsequent quarters. Re-referencing affects the level of, but not the movements in, chain volume estimates. 

    Impact of government subsidies on CGOP

    Estimates of Company Gross Operating Profits for the June and September quarters 2020 are impacted by the receipt of government subsidies. These subsidies are included as income in the compilation of CGOP but are not separately published in this release. Updated information on subsidy income received by industry will be published in the September quarter 2020 release of the Australian National Accounts on Wednesday 2 December 2020.

    Suspension of trend series

    The trend series attempts to measure underlying behaviour in business activity. In the short term, this measurement will be significantly affected by changes to regular patterns in spending that will occur during this time, as certain businesses are restricted from trading for example. If the trend estimates in this publication were to be calculated without fully accounting for this irregular event, they would likely provide a misleading view of underlying business activity.

    It may be some time before the underlying trend in business activity can be accurately estimated. The Business Indicators trend series have therefore been suspended and will be reinstated when more certainty emerges in the underlying trend in business activity.

    Update to seasonal adjustment methods

    Business Indicators Australia uses the concurrent seasonal adjustment method, meaning that seasonal factors are re-estimated each time a new data point becomes available. If not appropriately accounted for, unusual real-world events such as COVID-19 can distort estimates calculated using this method.

    From March quarter 2020 for selected series, seasonal factors have been calculated using data up to and including December quarter 2019, then projected from March quarter 2020 onwards. This approach, known as the forward factor method, ensures that the seasonal factors are not distorted for industries affected by COVID-19 impacts. Switching to the forward factor method may result in revisions in seasonal data for future quarters when the concurrent seasonal adjustment method is reinstated.

    Changes in this issue

    From September quarter 2020 onwards, direct collection of wages for a subset of units in ANZSIC Subdivision 62 (Finance) from the ABS Quarterly Business Indicators survey (QBIS) has ceased. Data is now being collected on behalf of the ABS by APRA as part of the Economic Financial Statistics (EFS) collection. This change has helped to reduce respondent burden for entities that are also required to report to APRA and has streamlined reporting for the Finance industry.

    Analysis by industry

    ​​​​​​​Featured series

    The following graphs and commentary refer to seasonally adjusted estimates for sales of goods and services and inventories in volume terms, and wages and salaries and company gross operating profits in current price terms. Trend estimates have been suspended from June quarter 2019 onwards for all series due to the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19).

    Graphs are interactive!

    Click each item on the legend to see graphs separately. 

    Total all industries

    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

    Financial and insurance services

    Rental, hiring and real estate services

    Professional, scientific and technical services

    Administrative and support services

    Education and training

    Health care and social assistance

    Arts and recreation services

    Other services

    Data downloads

    Table 1. Inventories, chain volume measures

    Table 2. Inventories, chain volume measures, percentage change from previous quarter

    Table 3. Inventories, current prices

    Table 4. Income from sales of goods and services, chain volume measures

    Table 5. Income from sales of goods and services, chain volume measures, percentage change from previous quarter

    Table 6. Income from sales of goods and services, current prices

    Table 7. Income from sales of goods and services by state, current prices

    Table 8. Income from sales of goods and services by state, current prices, percentage change from previous quarter

    Table 9. Company profits before income tax, current prices

    Table 10. Company profits before income tax, current prices, percentage change from previous quarter

    Table 11. Company gross operating profits, current prices

    Table 12. Company gross operating profits, current prices, percentage change from previous quarter

    Table 13. Unincorporated gross operating profits, current prices

    Table 14. Unincorporated gross operating profits, current prices, percentage change from previous quarter

    Table 15. Business gross operating profits, current prices

    Table 16. Business gross operating profits, current prices, percentage change from previous quarter

    Table 17. Wages and salaries, current prices

    Table 18. Wages and salaries, current prices, percentage change from the previous quarter

    Table 19. Wages and salaries by state, current prices

    Table 20. Wages and salaries by state, current prices, percentage change from previous quarter

    Table 21. Sales/wages and salaries ratio, current prices, original

    Table 22. Business gross operating profits/sales ratio, current prices, original

    Table 23. Inventories/sales ratio, current prices, original

    Table 24. Manufacturing subdivision, income from sales of goods and services, chain volume measures

    Table 25. Manufacturing subdivision, income from sales of goods and services, current prices

    Table 26. Manufacturing subdivision, inventories, chain volume measures

    Table 27. Manufacturing subdivision, inventories, current prices

    Table 28. Manufacturing subdivision, company profits before income tax, current prices, original

    Table 29. Manufacturing subdivision, company gross operating profits, current prices, original

    All time series spreadsheets

    Previous catalogue number

    This release previously used catalogue number 5676.0.

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