You are about to allocate your expenditure data using the software. Your organisation has its own way of classifying, or describing, your organisation’s financial account items. Like your organisation, the National Accounts have their way of classifying what we call goods and services, and what the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) refers to as products. Because ISA links all kinds of organisations to the National Accounts, the issue is to “translate” your account into the “language” of the National Accounts. You can do this using a conversion table (known in ABS publications as a Concordance Table).

The conversion table is like a map that converts your organisation’s classification system into that of the National Accounts. This map contains each one of your expenditure items, and re-classifies it into one or more product groups from the National Accounts.

You can learn about the Concordance Table and the National Accounts in more detail in Session 3 . This session will focus on using the software to allocate you expenditure.

Finding your way around

Using the software to allocate expenditure items