Retail trade revisions
In July 2008 the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) announced
revisions to the Retail Business Survey (RBS) which affected the
data reported in the ABS
Retail Trade publication. Those changes, and their impact on
this Bulletin, were discussed in a feature article in the October
2008 edition. This short update discusses the impact of the
reversal of the ABS decision for future editions of this
publication.
The earlier changes
In October 2008 we reported that the ABS was reducing the sample
size of the RBS, removing some industries from the survey and
adopting a new survey methodology for businesses remaining in the
survey. According to the ABS, the impact of these changes was
that the sample would be reduced by 59 per cent and that the
increased standard error of the results would make monthly
comparisons unreliable. As a consequence, the data reported in this
Bulletin shifted to the more accurate quarterly seasonal adjusted
retail trade data, rather than the typical monthly data presented
before the change.
The reversal of the decision
In November 2008 the ABS announced that it would be reinstating
a full sample for the RBS for each month. The change means that the
survey would revert to the methodology comparable to the system in
place prior to July 2008. However, one change has remained, the
removal of hotels and licensed clubs, video hire outlets and
hairdressing and beauty salons from the sample. Therefore, from
November 2008 the RBS will survey 500 larger ‘fully
enumerated’ businesses and sample 2700 smaller businesses
each month.
Monthly Statistical Bulletin Table 4.1
As a result of this revision,
the Monthly Statistical Bulletin Table 4.1 will report seasonally
adjusted aggregate Australian retail trade on a monthly
basis. This change has been implemented from the March 2009
edition. The Bulletin will cease reporting the quarterly retail
sales series.
Bankruptcy data revisions
The Monthly Statistical Bulletin has published one of the
measures of bankruptcy—the total number of
bankruptcies—reported by the Insolvency and Trustee Service
Australia (ITSA). From March 2009, additional data will be
included on personal and business related bankruptcies.
What is changing?
The ITSA data on bankruptcies, specifically those persons
administered under Part IV and XI of the Bankruptcy Act, is
typically presented on a state-by-state basis with a total for each
quarter. In a footnote ITSA identify how many of the total
bankruptcies are business related.
According to ITSA, a business
related bankruptcy is one “… in which an individual's
bankruptcy is directly related to his or her proprietary interest
in a business.”
The Monthly Statistical Bulletin collection will now include the
total level of bankruptcies, personal bankruptcies and business
related bankruptcies as separate items, so that the type of
bankruptcy can be identified.
The disaggregated time series run from September quarter 1997.
The detail on total bankruptcies, which is available from
1948‑49 in the electronic bulletin, will remain available for
client use.
Not a new story
Strictly speaking, the impact of the new data is limited as the
Bulletin has usually included a description of the number of
business related bankruptcies. The main gain in this change
is that the personal and business bankruptcies will be identified
over a five year period in the print edition of the Bulletin, and
that the electronic version will include the full time series of
both types of bankruptcies.
Comparison across time
The data enrichment allows better comparisons of the types of
bankruptcies. Graph 1 displays the personal and business series.
This graph identifies that business related bankruptcies are
essentially flat, whereas personal bankruptcies are more
volatile.
Graph 1. Bankruptcies compared
Monthly Statistical Bulletin Table 4.5
Monthly Statistical Bulletin print edition Table 4.5 will
include quarterly and annual data for personal, business related
and total bankruptcies, changes in total bankruptcies and a graph
showing the quarterly movement in total bankruptcies. The
electronic version of the table will include quarterly and annual
percentage changes in the separate series and a graph of the levels
of personal and business bankruptcies.
Adrian Makeham-Kirchner
Statistics and Mapping
Section
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