How does your company compare?

The Australian Tax Office released its annual* dataset last week, which reveals some fascinating insights about the typical Australian business and how Australia’s tax revenue is derived.

The total tax revenue administered by the ATO for 2020–21 was $475.3 billion. Of this 49.8% came from individual income tax, 22.6% came from companies and 15.0% came from GST. No surprises there.

It is probably not time well spent to go too far down the wormhole, but nevertheless, there are some pieces of data you’d be curious about if only to know what the benchmarks are.

For instance, some standout below-the-line expense data, looking at an Australia-wide overview of reporting companies:

• Average rent expenses are 4.81% (of total expenses), however, the median is much higher at 22.77%. Why the difference? Because so many large companies own their properties, whereas a much larger proportion of companies overall lease theirs.

Of course, it isn’t comparing apples with apples. If you don’t filter for company size, sectors, segments, geolocation, and even market size and share, is it reasonable or realistic to make comparisons?

Fortunately, there are filterable Industry Benchmark tables, though the ATO warns that those can be very subjective too.

*Also be mindful that this data comes from tax returns relating to the 2021-21 financial year. BTW It does not include JobKeeper.

So, with all that in mind, how do these numbers look to you?

Note: These figures don’t take into account your balance sheet, and gearing ratios for what we know is a very capital-intensive industry.

Filters: 23120 Motor Vehicle Body and Trailer Manufacturing | established businesses

• Expense to turnover ratio: 0.93
• Gross profit ratio: 0.47
• Net profit ratio: 0.14
• Wage to turnover ratio: 0.24

Filters: 35030 Trailer and Other Motor Vehicle Wholesaling | established business

• Expense to turnover ratio: 0.87
• Gross profit ratio: 0.29
• Net profit ratio: 0.13
• Wage to turnover ratio: 0.13

Filters: 35020 Commercial Vehicle Wholesaling | established business

• Expense to turnover ratio: 0.93
• Gross profit ratio: 0.29
• Net profit ratio: 0.13
• Wage to turnover ratio: 0.13

Filters: 46100 Road Freight Transport | established business

• Expense to turnover ratio: 0.76
• Gross profit ratio: 0.75
• Net profit ratio: 0.28
• Wage to turnover ratio: 0.29

Do you want to dive in for yourself?