Business - Financial performance by industry 2013–2025

Business (KAU, or kind-of-activity unit): An enterprise subdivision that is engaged in predominantly one activity and for which a single set of accounting records is available.

Return on total assets: Total current year taxable profit divided by total assets. This ratio tests the efficiency of investment in fixed assets and is a measure of how effectively the business has converted these assets into net income.
Return on total equity: Total current year taxable profit divided by total proprietor or shareholder funds. The return on equity represents the rate of return earned on the owner’s equity and investment.
Current ratio: Total current assets divided by total current liabilities. This ratio gives an indication of a business’s ability to pay its short term liabilities.
Quick ratio: Total current assets minus closing stock divided by total current liabilities. The quick ratio, also known as the acid test, is very similar to the current ratio, but excludes stock. It tests a business’s ability to pay short-term debt from immediately convertible or liquid assets.
Liabilities structure: Total proprietor or shareholder funds divided by (total proprietor or shareholder funds plus total liabilities). The liability structure ratio represents equity solely as a proportion of equity plus liabilities. A low ratio indicates a low level of owner’s equity in the business, and a higher risk to debt holders.
Margin on sales of goods for resale: Sales of goods not further processed less purchases of goods bought for resale, as a percentage of sales of goods not further processed.

Total income = Sales, government funding, grants and subsidies + Interest, dividends and donations + Non-operating income
Total expenditure = Interest and donations + Indirect taxes + Depreciation + Salaries and wages paid + Redundancy and severance + Purchases and other operating expenses + Non-operating expenses

Data refers to the latest financial year available, which depends on each business.
The AES data is collected from businesses with balance dates between 1 October in one year and 30 September the following year.
The 2021 Annual Enterprise Survey results were impacted by both COVID-19 and a new accounting standard.

http://datainfoplus.stats.govt.nz/Item/nz.govt.stats/36809771-984d-4e6b-89a1-576f2118b05b?&_ga=2.114667655.1436735567.1561929858-2122263498.1561669055#/nz.govt.stats/7066c34f-6f27-4327-8106-3feb8beb9747/21

Data for the 2025 financial year is provisional.
The AES data is to be used with caution below industry design level (NZSIOC level 4). The survey is not designed to support analysis below this level.
The COVID-19 pandemic had significant impact on NZ business activity over 2020, 2021 and 2022 years, particularly when COVID-19 alert levels and protection framework (traffic lights) were in place. As the Annual Enterprise Survey 2023 results cover enterprises with balance dates between 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023, the impact of COVID-19 was small compared with previous years.
'Government funding, grants and subsidies' include government funded COVID-19 wage subsidies in the Annual Enterprise Survey 2023. Wage subsidies passed on to employees are captured under salaries and wages paid.

Some industries are excluded on statistical grounds due to the difficulty of collecting the data from respondents: superannuation funds (K6330), residential property operators (L6711), foreign government representation (O7552), religious services (S9540), private households employing staff and undifferentiated goods and service-producing activities of households for own use (S960).
Non-market government units have not been included in the AES population for all data published since the AES 2015.

Businesses that are not economically significant are not selected into the AES.

On 1 January 2019 most businesses changed the way they account for leased (‘right-of-use’) assets under the International Financial Reporting Standard 16 (IFRS 16). See NZ IFRS 16 for further information.

The change to the accounting of leases caused:
- assets and liabilities to increase
- depreciation and interest expenses to increase
- other operating expenses to decrease.

At URL provided, download 'Annual enterprise survey: 2025 financial year (provisional) – CSV' file.

The Annual Enterprise Survey (AES) is New Zealand’s most comprehensive source of financial statistics covering around 500,000 businesses. It provides annual information on the financial performance and financial position for industry groups operating in New Zealand. The AES was designed as the principal collection vehicle of data used in the compilation of New Zealand's national accounts. Data used in this survey is compiled from a number of sources and measures industry levels for a given year. Incremental improvements in measurement, sample design, classification, and data collection may influence the inter-period movements, particularly over longer time periods.