Dataset capsule
- Dataset
- au-small-business-expense-benchmarks
- Version
- 2023-24.2026-03-15
- Publisher
- Australian Taxation Office via data.gov.au
- Period
- ATO small-business benchmarks for the 2023–24 financial year
- Geography
- Australia
- Unit
- Source ratios stored as decimals and presented as percentages
- Freshness
- Dataset reviewed 2026-07-16
- Population
- 100 source business types represented by the ATO workbook.
This report acknowledges exact dataset version 2023-24.2026-03-15 and its DataHub changelog. View the governed dataset and history.
Choose an exact source row before comparing
Source-row decision sequence
- Select the exact ATO business-type label; do not substitute a nearby trade. (not complete)
- Select the published turnover band that contains the business turnover. (not complete)
- Check that both endpoints exist for the field you want to use; two nulls remain unavailable. (not complete)
- Confirm the source period is ATO small-business benchmarks for the 2023–24 financial year. (not complete)
Selection example: a plumbing-services business
A fictitious business chooses the exact “Plumbing services” source label and then the turnover band containing its own turnover.
The governed plumbing rows contain both total-expense endpoints, while both cost-of-sales endpoints are null. The business may use the total-expense range as source context, but cost of sales remains unavailable.
Trade and service labels present in the governed dataset
The approved exact-key predicate selects 9 source labels and 27 rows. Labels and coverage below come directly from the bound generated dataset; there is no editorial “best match”.
| Exact ATO source label | Turnover bands | Rows | Cost-of-sales pair state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bricklaying services | low, medium, high | 3 | Unavailable (both endpoints null) |
| Carpentry services | low, medium, high | 3 | Unavailable (both endpoints null) |
| Electrical services | low, medium, high | 3 | Unavailable (both endpoints null) |
| Fence construction | low, medium, high | 3 | Unavailable (both endpoints null) |
| Landscape construction | low, medium, high | 3 | Unavailable (both endpoints null) |
| Painting services | low, medium, high | 3 | Unavailable (both endpoints null) |
| Plumbing services | low, medium, high | 3 | Unavailable (both endpoints null) |
| Roofing services, including roof tiling, guttering and metal roofing | low, medium, high | 3 | Unavailable (both endpoints null) |
| Tiling services - floor and wall | low, medium, high | 3 | Unavailable (both endpoints null) |
Carry context into a job-cost review
Keep the selected ATO label, turnover band and source period beside your own estimate and actual records. Then use the Global job-costing guide and Job Costing & Margin tool to compare what the job was expected to cost with what it actually cost.
When preparing the next scope, carry your own reconciled cost assumptions into the Project Quote Builder. The Australian benchmark remains comparison context and does not choose a quote or margin.
Stop when the source does not match
- Stop if the exact ATO business-type label is absent.
- Stop if turnover falls outside the selected source band.
- Stop if either required range endpoint is missing; do not fill or estimate it.
- Stop if your accounting basis or period is not comparable with the source definition.
Methodology, limitations and sources
Methodology and normalization
Methodology ato-expense-benchmark-coverage-normalization, analysis version coverage-analysis-v2
Normalization steps
- Count distinct source business-type keys, normalized row keys and source turnover-band labels.
- Select the approved trade/service slice by exact source business-type key and group the result by source label.
- Classify cost-of-sales coverage as complete only when both endpoints are numeric, null only when both are null, and partial otherwise.
- Validate total-expense endpoints as finite ratios bounded from zero to one and ordered minimum to maximum.
Exclusions
- Do not derive profit or margin by subtracting total expenses from one.
- Do not convert an observed range into a target, recommendation, grade or forecast.
- Do not infer missing cost-of-sales values or generalize Australian data globally.
Low and medium bands cover every represented business type; high-band coverage is slightly lower.
| Finding | Value (rows) |
|---|---|
| Low-band rows | 100 |
| Medium-band rows | 100 |
| High-band rows | 96 |
The chart and fallback table are generated from the same deterministic findings.
Rows are separated into complete, fully null and partial endpoint pairs without filling missing values.
| Finding | Value (rows) |
|---|---|
| Rows with a complete cost-of-sales pair | 156 |
| Rows with no cost-of-sales pair | 140 |
| Rows with a partial cost-of-sales pair | 0 |
Sources checked
- ATO Small Business Benchmarks data package — Australian Taxation Office via data.gov.au: Supports the dataset identity, source ratios, comparison boundary and current resource.
- ATO Small Business Benchmarks 2023–24 workbook — Australian Taxation Office via data.gov.au: Supports the dataset identity, source ratios, comparison boundary and current resource.
- ATO manual benchmark comparison guidance — Australian Taxation Office: Supports the dataset identity, source ratios, comparison boundary and current resource.