Monthly Business Turnover Indicator

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Experimental indicator of business turnover derived from monthly Business Activity Statements

Reference period
May 2023
Released
10/07/2023

Key statistics

In seasonally adjusted terms, the May 2023 monthly business turnover indicator showed:

  • Rises in 11 of the 13 published industries 
  • The largest rise was in Electricity, gas, water and waste services (12.8%)
  • The largest fall was in Mining (-6.0%)
  • Through the year, rises were seen in 12 of 13 published industries
  • This experimental indicator is derived from Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Business Activity Statements (BAS) turnover data from monthly BAS remitters. It includes 13 of the 19 industry divisions classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006.
  • Monthly BAS reporting covers businesses with GST annual turnover of $20 million or more and a proportion of smaller businesses that report monthly on a voluntary basis.
  • The estimated monthly changes in business turnover are aligned as closely as is feasible to the Australian System of National Accounts concept of market output. Users should exercise caution in comparing the indicator to other ABS economic outputs due to differences in concepts, scope, coverage, and methods.

Industry

Total turnover differs between industries. This should be considered when analysing month-to-month movements in the context of overall economic activity. The chart below shows the monthly movements in the turnover indicator for May 2023 (represented by colour) and the selected industries' estimated share of total turnover for the 2021-22 financial year (represented by circle size). 

Chart showing the monthly movements in the turnover indicator for May 2023 (represented by colour) and the selected industries' estimated share of total turnover for the 2021-22 financial year (represented by circle size).

The chart has 13 circles, one for each industry division included in the Monthly Business Turnover Indicator. The size of each circle represents the share of total business turnover for the 2021-22 financial year for that industry. Circles are also given a colour shading to represent the monthly change in the Monthly Business Turnover Indicator for the current reference month. Industries with negative movements are coloured orange, those with little or no movement are grey, and positive movements are blue.

The largest circles are for Manufacturing, Mining, Wholesale trade, and Retail trade.

Electricity, gas, water and waste services is blue, showing a positive movement in business turnover. Mining is coloured orange, showing a negative movement in business turnover.

Business turnover differs from the National Accounts concept of output. For example, the value of goods sold by wholesalers and subsequently retailers are reflected in turnover for both industries while National Accounts output measures the margins gained by each industry.

Industry analysis and charts

In May 2023, 11 of the 13 industry divisions included in the indicator showed rises in monthly turnover in seasonally adjusted terms. The largest rises in monthly turnover were seen in:

  • Electricity, gas, water and waste services (12.8%), after falling 7.5% in April
  • Information, media and telecommunications (6.5%)
  • Administrative and support services (3.4%)

Two industries showed falls in May 2023:

  • Mining (-6.0%)
  • Accommodation and food services (-0.3%)

Year-on-year, 12 of 13 industry divisions recorded increases in business turnover in May 2023, compared with May 2022. The largest rises were recorded in:

  • Construction (17.6%)
  • Other services (15.7%)
  • Professional, scientific and technical services (14.2%)

Mining (-13.5%) was the only industry to record a year-on-year fall in business turnover in May 2023, compared with May 2022.

Mining

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Manufacturing

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Electricity, gas, water and waste services

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Construction

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Wholesale trade

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Retail trade

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Accommodation and food services

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Transport, postal and warehousing

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Information media and telecommunications

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Professional, scientific and technical services

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Administrative and support services

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Arts and recreation services

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Other services

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Trend Graphs for Selected Industries

Trend Graphs for Selected Industries

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Index base period: July 2019 = 100.0.

Data downloads

Time series spreadsheets

Data files

Data Explorer datasets

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Business Turnover Indicator - Monthly percentage changes and indexes, January 2010 onwards

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