1321.0 - Small Business in Australia, 2001  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 23/10/2002   
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  • Glossary

BANKRUPTCIES

Bankruptcy is a legal state relating to an individual, permitting the orderly repayment and release of their debts. It may be initiated either voluntarily by the debtor or by a creditor against the debtor's will , and even in the debtor's absence. The legislation generally provides for the assets of a bankrupt to be sold and the proceeds to be distributed to creditors on a pro rate basis.

BUSINESS BANKRUPTCIES

When bankruptcy proceedings are taking place and it is found that the individual has been involved in any business activity in the five years preceding bankruptcy, then the bankruptcy is referred to as a ‘business bankruptcy’.

BUSINESSES OTHER THAN SMALL

Businesses employing more than 19 people.

CASH OPERATING SURPLUS

Cash operating surplus for agricultural industries, is the estimate of gross operating surplus less an estimate of the value of increase in livestock less estimates of interest and land rent paid plus estimates of interest and land rent received. Cash operating surplus is not a true measure of surplus available for profit since depreciation and income tax have not been deducted.

EMPLOYEES (WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS)

The number of employees in a given financial year is the annual average of the number of employees who received pay for any part of a chosen pay period in August, November, February and May of that financial year. All permanent, temporary, casual, part-time, managerial and executive employees paid during the period, as well as employees on paid or pre-paid leave, on workers' compensation, and employees paid from interstate or overseas are included.

In the LFS members of the Australian permanent defence forces, certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, overseas residents in Australia and members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependents) stationed in Australia are all excluded. Employees primarily engaged in agriculture, fishing and hunting; and employees in private households are all included as employees.

The SEE excludes members of the Australian permanent defence forces, employees of businesses in the private sector primarily engaged in Agriculture, forestry and fishing, employees in private households employing staff, employees of overseas embassies and consulates, employees based outside Australia and employees on workers compensation who are not paid through the payroll.

Also excluded are the following persons who are not regarded as employees for the purposes of the SEE; proprietors/partners of unincorporated businesses, directors who are not paid a salary, persons such as subcontractors, and persons paid solely by commission without a retainer are also excluded. Casual employees who work on an irregular basis and who were not paid during the relevant pay period, and employees on leave without pay, on strike, or stood down without pay for the whole of the pay period, are also excluded.

EMPLOYER SIZE

Management units (and establishments) are allocated a size classification, referred to as ‘employer size’. Depending on the source of the statistics this term refers to either the number of employees only or total employment (employees plus working proprietors and partners). For statistics derived from ABS employer based surveys, e.g. SEE, employer size refers to the number of employees, while for statistics derived from the program of Economic Surveys ‘employer size’ refers to total employment.

EMPLOYERS

Persons who work in their own business (that business not being a limited liability company) with employees. The number of employers in a given financial year is the annual average of the number of employers in a chosen two-week period in August, November, February and May of that financial year.

EMPLOYMENT

Persons working in their own business and employees, including part-time and casual employees on the payroll, for the last pay period in June.

EMPLOYMENT SIZE

See employer size.

ESTIMATED VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS (EVAO)

A valuation placed on agricultural units taking into account (without double counting) the area of crops sown, number of livestock on holdings at a point in time, as well as the crops produced and livestock turnoff (in most cases sales) during the year. It is a measure devised to assist with industry coding and size valuation and is not an indicator of receipts obtained by units or of the value of agriculture commodities produced by these units.

FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT

Full-time equivalent employment is defined as the total hours worked divided by the average hours worked in full-time jobs.

GROSS PRODUCT

See Industry gross product.

INDUSTRY

Industry statistics in this publication are classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 1993 (cat. no. 1292.0).

INDUSTRY GROSS PRODUCT (IGP)

IGP is a measure of the unduplicated gross product of a business defined as gross output minus intermediate inputs. Broadly it can be described as the gross output of a business minus intermediate inputs or the value of goods and services after the deduction of the cost of goods and services used up in the process of production.

INDUSTRY VALUE ADDED

IVA represents the value added by an industry to the intermediate inputs used by the industry. The derivation of IVA is as follows: Turnover (new standards) plus Closing inventories less Opening inventories less Intermediate input expenses (for details, see the entry for operating expenses) equals IVA.

LARGE BUSINESS

For this publication, large businesses (excluding agriculture) are defined as businesses employing 200 or more people.

LEGAL STATUS

Reflects a business's legal structure, i.e. sole proprietor, partnership, incorporated company, cooperative society or government authority.

MANAGEMENT UNIT

The management unit is the largest type of accounting unit within an enterprise group which controls its productive activities. From its accounts detailed annual and sub-annual (i.e. at least quarterly) revenue, expense, stocks, capital expenditure and employment data must be available to the ABS which enables measures of industry performance, such as gross product (i.e. adjusted value added) to be calculated.

MEDIUM BUSINESS

For this publication, medium businesses (excluding agriculture) are defined as businesses employing 20 or more people but less than 200.

MICRO BUSINESS

For this publication micro businesses are defined as businesses employing less than five employees as well as non-employing businesses.

NET OPERATING SURPLUS

Is defined as gross product less wages and salaries, employer contributions to superannuation and pension schemes, depreciation expenses and workers' compensation insurance. Net operating surplus is a basic measure of profitability (before income tax and non-operating income and expenses) of an industry.

NON-EMPLOYING BUSINESS

A business run by an own account worker, solely or in a partnership, which has no employees.

OPERATING PROFIT BEFORE TAX (OPBT)

OPBT is a measure of profit before extraordinary items are brought to account and prior to the deduction of income tax and appropriations to owners (e.g. dividends paid).

OTHER SMALL BUSINESS

For this publication, other small businesses (excluding agriculture) are defined as businesses employing 5 or more people but less than 20.

OWN ACCOUNT WORKERS

An own account worker is a person who operates his or her own unincorporated economic enterprise or engages independently in a profession or trade and hires no employees. The number of own account workers in a given financial year was taken as the annual average of the number of own account workers in a chosen two week period in August, November, February and May of that financial year.

PERSONS WORKING IN OWN BUSINESS

A combination of own account workers and employers estimated from the monthly LFS.

PERSONS EMPLOYED

See employment.

PRIVATE SECTOR

All businesses not classified to the public sector.

PUBLIC SECTOR

The public sector in Australia is that part of the economy which consists of all resident enterprises through which the Commonwealth, State and Local governments, separately or jointly, implement their economic, social and other policies by their ability to control what activities the enterprises undertake and/or how they are undertaken.

SALES OF GOODS AND SERVICES

Includes sales of goods whether or not manufactured by the business; sales or transfers to related businesses; all repair and service income and fees; income from rent, leasing and hiring; contract, subcontract and commission income; and management fees.

SMALL BUSINESSES

For this publication small businesses are defined as businesses employing less than 20 people in all industries except agriculture where the definition is businesses with an EVAO of between $22,500 and $400,000.

STATUS OF WORKER

Refers to the classification as either an employee, an own account worker, or an employer.

TURNOVER

Sales of goods and services, commission income, repair and service income, rent, leasing, and hiring income (excluding unallocated rent, leasing and hiring income), government bounties and subsidies, and all other operating income except interest, royalties and dividends. Also included is the value of capital work done by the management unit for itself and the value of equipment withdrawn from stock for own use or for rental or lease outside the management unit.

UNINCORPORATED JOINT VENTURE (UJV)

For ABS purposes this is defined as being a contractual association, between two or more parties, to undertake a specific business project in which the participants meet the costs of the project and receive a share of any resulting output. The statistical treatment of each UJV involves collection of data from the participants, who generally report income and asset items, and operators who report employment and expenses. This can place participants inappropriately in the small business class. To avoid distortion of the data UJV participants with employment in the 0-19 range have been presented separately.

WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS

See employees.

WAGE AND SALARIES

Including severance, termination and redundancy payments and provision expenses for employee entitlements. It excludes payments to contractors and drawings of working proprietors and working partners of unincorporated businesses.