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Government bodies (such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics or the Department of Education and Training) are often the official ‘author’ of the works they publish. Similarly, companies and organisations are usually the authors of their own web pages.

Provide the company’s name in full for the first mention and provide an acronym immediately following this in parentheses (see examples below for usage). This formally establishes the acronym in your piece of work. All subsequent mentions must use the acronym.

For example, the first mention:

“The American Psychological Association (APA) (2012) noted that funding for mental health services had declined in previous decades”.

“The consumer price index is collated by using around a million pricing structures (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2018)”.

For example, subsequent mentions:

“As noted by the APA (2012), the yearly funding provided for psychiatric services has been steadily declining”.

“New weights were used to maximise transaction data (ABS 2018).”

• The reference list entry requires the organisation’s or company’s name in full, unless the acronym is generally known or used as the organisation’s or company’s name, such as the CSIRO or QANTAS. If unsure, the safest option is to provide the organisation name in full.