Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods refer to the sum of retail sales of consumer goods sold by all sectors of the national economy to urban and rural residents and social groups. This indicator is used to show the supply of consumer goods through various channels to households and institutions, and is very important for the study on changes at the domestic retail market, and on economic cycles.

The retail sales of consumer goods include: (1) commodities sold to urban and rural residents for their daily use and building materials sold to them for the construction or repair of houses; (2) office appliances and supplies sold to institutions; (3) food and fuels sold to canteens of institutions, enterprises, schools, military units and to canteens of hotels and hostels that only serve their guests, and commodities produced by enterprises, institutions or state farms and sold directly to their employees or their canteens; (4) grain and non-staple food, clothing ,daily articles and fuels sold to military personnel; (5)consumer goods sold to foreigners, overseas Chinese, and Chinese compatriots from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao during their stay in the mainland of China; (6) Chinese and western medicines, herbs and medical facilities purchased by residents; (7) newspapers, books and magazines directly sold to residents and social groups by publishers, new and old commemorative stamps, special stamps, first-day covers, stamp albums and other stamp-collection articles sold by stamp companies; (8) consumer goods purchased and then sold by second-hand shops; (9) stoves and other heating facilities and liquefied gas sold by gas companies to households and institutions; and (10) commodities sold by farmers to non-agricultural residents and social groups.

Excluded under this heading are: raw materials, fuels, equipment, tools sold to enterprises, institutions and state farms for production purpose; commodities sold to trade establishments for re-selling; commissioned sales at second-hand shops; operational income of urban public utilities; stamps sold at post offices; income of water, power, gas production and supply establishments from the supply of their products; and sales of commodities among farmers.

Volume of Business (Transaction Value) at Urban and Rural Free Market refers to the value of all goods changed hands between sellers and buyers, including farmers, non-agricultural residents, institutions, organizations, enterprises and private peddlers, at urban and rural free markets. At present, also included the retail sales of farmers to non-agricultural residents outside free market, excluding the volume of business at the urban industrial product market.

Circulating Assets refer to the assets which can be cashed in or spent of consumed in an operating cycle of one year or over one year, including cash, short term investment, notes receivable, accounts receivable, bad debt reserve, net accounts receivable, advance payment, other receivable, stock, and other operating expenses, to be transferred deferred expenses, net losses of circulating assets to be settled after approval, long term bond investment at the expiration of a year and other circulating assets.

Fixed Assets refer to the assets whose accounting operational cycle is over a year and unit value is up to the stipulated standard, and in their original form in the operating process.

Creditor's Equity refers to investor's ownership of net assets of the enterprise, including the primary input form investors, capital accumulation fund, surplus accumulation fund and undistributed profits, etc.

Sales Revenue of Commodities (Business Income) refers to the income from the sales of commodities by the wholesale and retail sale enterprises, the income from the sales on commission and the business income by the catering enterprises (including food income, cold and hot drink income, service income and other incomes).

Sales Cost of Commodities refers to the prime cost, which should be paid by the wholesale and retail sale enterprises for the sold commodities, the cost of raw materials, and prime cost of commodities of the catering enterprises.

Operational Expenses refer to the various operational expenses in the purchase, sale and stock process of the wholesale and retail sale enterprises, and various expenses in the operational process of the catering enterprises, including traffic expense, loading and unloading charge, packing charge, insurance expense, advertising fee, wear loss of commodities, accumulative commission of import and export commodities, wages and welfare expense of business personnel.

Tax and Extra charges on Sales of Commodities refer to the tax which should be paid by the wholesale and retail sale enterprises for selling commodities and the tax and extra charges which should be paid by the catering enterprises for various business operation, including business tax, tax on city maintenance and construction, export tariff and extra charges for education, etc.

Sales Profit of Commodities refers to the profit gained by the wholesale and retail sale enterprises in selling commodities.

Administrative Expenses refer to the expense in the activities of organizing and managing enterprises operation by the administrative department of the enterprise, including wages and welfare expense of managerial staff, business entertainment expense, expense of trade union, expense of education for staff and workers, labor insurance expense, membership fee of board of directors, expense concerning foreign affairs, leasing expense, consulting fee, litigation cost, tax on real estates, tax on the use of land, tax on the use of vehicles, compensation expense for the land loss, technical transfer expense, technical development expense, amortization of intangible assets, bad debt loss, administrative expense handed over to higher authorities and other expenses , etc. It is reported in line with the analysis of emergence value of management expenses.

Total Profits refer to profits gained by the enterprises during the year, including business profit, net income of investment and net value beyond operation expenditure and receipt.