Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

KEY POINTS

• The underlying cash balance for the 2013-14 financial year to 31 August 2013 was a deficit of $10,563 million.
• The fiscal balance for the 2013-14 financial year to 31 August 2013 was a deficit of $5,719 million.

*As published in the 2013-14 Budget.
(a) Excludes net Future Fund earnings.
(b) Net worth is calculated as total assets minus total liabilities.
(c) Net debt equals the sum of deposits held, government securities, loans and other borrowing, minus the sum of cash and deposits, advances paid, and investments, loans and placements.

Care needs to be taken when comparing monthly or cumulative data across years and to full year estimates as revenues and expenses vary from month to month. This is particularly so for the first few months of the year.

FISCAL OUTCOMES

Underlying Cash Balance

The underlying cash balance includes cash from operations and net cash provided by investing activities in non-financial assets but excludes the net cash earnings for the Future Fund.

The underlying cash balance for the year to 31 August 2013 was a deficit of $10,563 million, compared to the Budget profile deficit of $9,317 million. The difference of $1,246 million relates to lower underlying cash receipts partially offset by lower underlying cash payments.

Fiscal Balance

The fiscal balance for the year to 31 August 2013 was a deficit of $5,719 million, this is $164 million lower than the Budget profile deficit. The difference relates to lower expenses and net capital investment, partially offset by lower revenue.

• Revenues 
  Total revenue was $3,074 million lower than the Budget profile primarily due to lower taxation revenue. This reflects lower company, superannuation fund and individual and other withholding taxation revenue compared to the Budget profile, together with other minor variations including timing of taxation revenues.
• Expenses
  Total expenses were $2,600 million lower than the Budget profile primarily due to lower grants and personal benefit expenditure.  This is in part consistent with reduced expenditure during the election caretaker period.

Assets and Liabilities

The net worth of the General Government sector is a negative net asset position of $205,908 million at 31 August 2013. The net debt of the General Government sector is $161,253 million at 31 August 2013.

Australian Government General Government Sector – INCOME STATEMENT

*As published in the 2013-14 Budget.
(a) Consistent with ABS GFS classification, other employee related expenses are reported under other operating expenses. Total employee expenses equal wages and salaries plus other operating expenses.
(b) The presentation of other economic flows has changed to align more closely with AASB 1049. The AASB 1049 version of other economic flows is no longer presented.
(c) Reflects changes in the market valuation of investments and any revaluations at the point of disposal or sale.
(d) Largely reflects other revaluation of assets and liabilities.
(e) The term fiscal balance is not used by the ABS.

Australian Government General Government Sector - BALANCE SHEET

*As published in the 2013-14 Budget.
(a) As a result of the 2013-14 Budget there has been a reclassification between other non-financial assets and other receivables.
(b) For budget reporting purposes, a discount rate applied by actuaries in preparing Long Term Cost Reports is used to value the superannuation liability. This reduces the volatility in reported liabilities that would occur from year to year if the long-term government bond rate were used. Consistent with Australian Accounting Standards, the long-term government bond rate as at 30 June is used to calculate the superannuation liability for the purpose of actuals reporting.
(c) Net worth is calculated as total assets minus total liabilities.
(d) Net financial worth equals total financial assets minus total liabilities.
(e) Net financial liabilities equals total liabilities less financial assets other than investments in other public sector entities.
(f) Net debt equals the sum of deposits held, government securities, loans and other borrowing, minus the sum of cash and deposits, advances paid, and investments, loans and placements.

Australian Government General Government Sector - CASH FLOW STATEMENT

*As published in the 2013-14 Budget.
(a) A positive number denotes a cash inflow; a negative sign denotes a cash outflow.
(b) The acquisition of assets under finance leases decreases the underlying cash balance.The disposal of assets previously held under finance leases increases the underlying cash.
(c) The term underlying cash balance is not used by the ABS.

Australian Government General Government Sector - EXPENSES BY FUNCTION

* As published in the 2013-14 Budget.

NOTES:

The Australian Government monthly financial statements have been prepared on a basis consistent with the Budget as required under section 54 of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997. The statements are prepared in accordance with the Australian Accounting Standards Board 1049 – Whole of Government and General Government Sector Financial Reporting (AASB 1049), which require treatment based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Government Finance Statistics (GFS) except where Australian Accounting Standards (AAS) provide a better conceptual treatment for specific items. Departures are limited to complying with either ABS GFS or AAS.

The Australian Government has improved the transparency and accountability of the Monthly Financial Statements by reporting against a profile of expected revenue and expenses. This allows for a more accurate commentary and account for seasonality or patterns of revenue and expenses.

The Government is committed to releasing the Monthly Financial Statements in a timely fashion and will endeavour to do so in accordance with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Special Data Dissemination Standards. Under these standards the timeframe for releasing the Monthly Financial Statements is by the end of the following month. The exception is the June and July Monthly Financial Statements, for which the IMF has given Australia special dispensation to release before 31 October.

While total tax collections are known with certainty at the end of each month, the distribution across the relevant heads of revenue cannot be finalised until all Business Activity Statements are received and processed. The outcomes for some revenue items provided in this statement are thus estimates, in accordance with the best judgement of the Taxation Commissioner, and subject to revision. The taxation revenue items not affected are: petroleum resource rent tax, excise duty, customs duty, other taxes and individuals refunds.

The sum of the revenue accrued in the month and the revisions to prior periods equals the revenue reported in the Income Statement.

Note 1: Income Tax

*As published in the 2013-14 Budget.
(a) Includes both the Minerals Resource Rent Tax and the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax.

Note 2: Indirect Tax

*As published in the 2013-14 Budget.
(a) Revenue from the Carbon pricing mechanism has been estimated based on expected annual results.

NOTE:

Style Conventions

1. Figures in tables and generally in the text have been rounded. Discrepancies in tables between totals and sums of components are due to rounding.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS)

2. In accordance with the IMF's SDDS, quarter ahead notice of the date of release of the data on central government operations, which is contained in the Australian Government Financial Statements, is given on the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board at http//dsbb.imf.org.
3. In accordance with the IMF SDDS, the approximate date of release of the data on debt guaranteed by the Australian Government (central government), is given on the IMF's Data Dissemination Advance Release Calendar http://dsbb.imf.org. Monthly and quarterly data on debt guaranteed by the Australian Government (central government) that meet the coverage and timeliness requirements of the SDDS are published on the AOFM website at http://aofm.gov.au/statistics/securities-on-issue.

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