System of National Accounts 1993

Prepared under the auspices of the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on National Accounts

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Commission of the European Communities—Eurostat

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International Monetary Fund

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Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

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United Nations

Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis—Statistical Division

Economic Commission for Europe

Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

Economic Commission for Africa

Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

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World Bank

Brussels/Luxembourg, New York, Paris, Washington, D.C., 1993

Office for Official Publications of the European Communities

Catalogue number CA-81-93-002-EN-C

International Monetary Fund

Publication Stock No. SNA-EA

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

OECD Code 30 94 01 1

United Nations publication · Sales No.E.94. XVII.4, document symbol ST/ESA/STAT/SER.F/2/Rev.4

World Bank Stock Number: 31512

ISBN 92-1-161352-3

Copyright © 1993

Commission of the European Communities,

International Monetary Fund,

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,

United Nations and World Bank

All rights reserved

Manufactured in United States of America

Foreword

The revised System of National Accounts (SNA) presented in this volume has been undertaken under the joint responsibility of our five organizations. Through the mechanism of an Inter-Secretariat Group, the staff of our organizations have organized and managed the review process from the mid-1980s onwards. The resulting System is being published jointly by the five organizations.

The System is a comprehensive, consistent and flexible set of macroeconomic accounts intended to meet the needs of government and private-sector analysts, policy makers and decision takers. It is designed for use in countries with market economies, whatever their stage of economic development, and also in countries in transition to market economies. The System has been welcomed and unanimously approved by the Statistical Commission of the United Nations.

The revision process has required numerous meetings over several years in which experts in national accounts from countries throughout the world have participated. The revised System owes much to their collective advice and wisdom. The revision has been a major exercise in cooperation conducted at a world level between national and international statistical agencies. It serves as a model for future collaborative work on the development of improved statistical systems and standards, including national accounts. The SNA is intended for use by both national and international statistical agencies, and countries are advised to start to compile accounts utilizing the revised System as soon as possible.

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Summary

• • Foreword

    Preface

    Perspectives on the 1993 System of National Accounts: looking back and looking ahead

    Reader’s guide

    List of abbreviations and acronyms

• I. Introduction

• II. Overview

  • Annex: Other presentations of the accounts

    Appendix: Tables 2.6-2.12

• III. Flows, stocks and accounting rules

• IV. Institutional units and sectors

  • Annex: Extract from the resolution of the fifteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians, January 1993, concerning statistics of employment in the informal sector

• V. Establishments and industries

• VI. The production account

• VII. The primary distribution of income account

• VIII. The secondary distribution of income account

• IX. The use of income account

• X. The capital account

  • Annex: Gross fixed capital formation and costs of ownership transfer

• XI. The financial account

• XII. Other changes in assets account

  • Annex: The definition and measurement of holding gains

• XIII. The balance sheet

  • Annex: Definition of assets

• XIV. The rest of the world account (external transactions account)

• XV. Supply and use tables and input-output

• XVI. Price and volume measures

• XVII. Population and labour inputs

• XVIII. Functional classifications

• XIX. Application of the integrated framework to various circumstances and needs

  • Annex A: The treatment of official multiple exchange rate systems

  • Annex B: Parallel treatment of interest under significant inflation

• XX. Social accounting matrices

• XXI. Satellite analysis and accounts

• Annexes

  • I. Changes from the 1968 System of National Accounts

  • II. Relationship of the rest of the world account to the balance of payments accounts and the international investment position

  • III. Financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM)

  • IV. The treatment of insurance, social insurance and pensions

  • V. Classifications and accounts

  • VI. List of expert group meetings on the revision of the System of National Accounts

• Index

Contents

• • Foreword

  • Preface

  • A. New features and the role of the System of National Accounts

  • B. Acknowledgements

  • Perspectives on the 1993 System of National Accounts: looking back and looking ahead

  • A. Looking back

    • Forerunners of the System of National Accounts

    • The 1953 SNA

      • The research agenda: a case study

      • Subsequent editions

      • Manuals and the questionnaire

    • The 1968 SNA

    • The 1993 SNA: the review and revision process

  • B. Looking ahead: the research agenda

  • Reader’s guide

  • List of abbreviations and acronyms

• I. Introduction

  • A. The SNA as a System

  • B. Accounts and their corresponding economic activities

    • 1. The sequence of accounts

      • Current accounts

        • Production account

        • Distribution and use of income accounts

      • Accumulation accounts

      • Balance sheets

    • 2. Activities and transactions

  • C. The institutional sectors of the economy

  • D. Other features of the System

    • 1. Supply and use tables

    • 2. Price and volume measures

  • E. Concepts and classifications

    • 1. The production boundary

      • Household production

      • Other production boundary problems

    • 2. The consumption boundary

    • 3. The asset boundary

    • 4. National boundaries

  • F. Uses of the SNA

    • 1. Specific uses

      • Monitoring the behaviour of the economy

      • Macroeconomic analysis

      • Economic policy-making and decision-taking

      • International comparisons

    • 2. Flexibility of implementation and use

    • 3. The SNA as a coordinating framework for statistics

  • G. Harmonization between different statistical systems

  • H. Implementation of concepts and classifications

    • 1. Final consumption, intermediate consumption and gross fixed capital formation

      • Training, research and development

      • Education

      • Repairs, maintenance and gross fixed capital formation

    • 2. Interpretation of the distinction between consumption and gross fixed capital formation

  • I. Links with business accounting and economic theory

    • • Micro-macro links

  • J. The aggregates of the system as indicators of economic activity and welfare

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. The coverage of GDP and the role of estimates and imputations

    • 3. Changes in welfare

      • Interaction with non-economic factors

      • Welfare, economic analysis and policy-making

• II. Overview

  • A. Introduction

    • 1. Analysing flows and stocks

    • 2. Recording flows and stocks

  • B. Main categories

    • 1. Institutional units and sectors

      • Institutional sectors

      • Delimitation of the total economy and the rest of the world

    • 2. Transactions and other flows

      • Main types of transactions and other flows

      • Characteristics of transactions in the System

      • Complementary classification of transactions and other flows

    • 3. Assets and liabilities

    • 4. Producing units and products

      • Producing units

      • Products

    • 5. Purposes

  • C. Rules of accounting

    • 1. Introduction

      • Terminology for the two sides of the accounts

      • Double entry/quadruple entry

    • 2. Time of recording

    • 3. Valuation

      • General principles

      • Methods of valuation

      • Volume measures and measures in real terms

    • 4. Consolidation and netting

  • D. The accounts

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. The integrated economic accounts and their components

      • A first glance at the integrated economic accounts

      • The full sequence of accounts for institutional units and sectors and their balancing items

        • Current accounts

        • Accumulation accounts

        • Balance sheets

      • Transactions accounts

      • Assets and liabilities accounts

      • Rest of the world account (external transactions account)

      • The aggregates

      • Integrated economic accounts: a complete view

    • 3. The other parts of the accounting structure

      • The central supply and use table and other input-output tables

      • The tables of financial transactions and financial assets and liabilities

      • Complete balance sheets and assets and liabilities accounts

      • Functional analysis

      • Population and labour inputs tables

  • E. The integrated central framework and flexibility

    • 1. Applying the central framework in a flexible way

    • 2. Introducing social accounting matrices

    • 3. Introducing satellite accounts

  • Annex: Other presentations of the accounts

  • A. Diagrammatic presentation

  • B. Equations

  • C. Matrix presentation

  • Appendix: Tables 2.6-2.12

• III. Flows, stocks and accounting rules

  • A. Introduction

  • B. Stocks and Flows

  • C. Flows

    • 1. Transactions

      • Monetary transactions

        • Transactions with and without counterparts

        • Rearrangements of transactions

      • Non-monetary transactions

        • Barter transactions

        • Remuneration in kind

        • Payments in kind other than remuneration in kind

        • Transfers in kind

        • Internal transactions

      • Externalities and illegal actions

        • Externalities

        • Illegal actions

    • 2. Other flows

      • Other changes in the volume of assets

      • Holding gains and losses

    • 3. Balancing items in the flow accounts

  • D. Stocks

    • 1. Stocks

    • 2. Balancing items in the balance sheets

  • E. Accounting rules

  • F. Valuation

    • 1. General rules

    • 2. Valuation of partitioned flows

    • 3. Special valuations concerning products

  • G. Time of recording

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Choice for recording on an accrual basis

    • 3. Timing of exchanges and transfers

    • 4. Timing of output and intermediate consumption

    • 5. Timing of changes in inventories and consumption of fixed capital

    • 6. Timing of composite transactions and balancing items

    • 7. Timing of other flows

    • 8. Balance sheet items

    • 9. The accounting period

  • H. Aggregation, netting, consolidation

    • 1. Aggregation

    • 2. Netting

    • 3. Consolidation

• IV. Institutional units and sectors

  • A. Introduction

    • 1. Institutional units

    • 2. Institutional sectors and sub-sectors: summary

    • 3. Relationship between sectors and types of institutional units

    • 4. Residence

    • 5. Sectoring and economic behaviour

  • B. Institutional units in the form of legal or social entities

    • 1. Corporations

      • Ownership and control of corporations

        • Subsidiary, associate and holding corporations

    • 2. Ancillary corporations

    • 3. Cooperatives, limited liability partnerships, etc.

    • 4. Quasi-corporations

    • 5. Non-profit institutions

      • The characteristics of NPIs

      • NPIs as market and non-market producers

        • NPIs engaged in market production

        • NPIs engaged in non-market production

  • C. The non-financial corporations sector and its sub-sectors (S.11)

    • • The sub-sectors of the non-financial corporations sector

      • Public non-financial corporations (S.11001)

      • National private non-financial corporations (S.11002)

      • Foreign controlled non-financial corporations (S.11003)

  • D. The financial corporations sector and its sub-sectors (S.12)

    • 1. Financial intermediation

    • 2. Financial enterprises

    • 3. Unincorporated financial enterprises

    • 4. The sub-sectors of the financial corporations sector

      • The central bank (S.121)

      • Other depository corporations (S.122)

        • Deposit money corporations (S.1221)

        • Other (S.1222)

      • Other financial intermediaries except insurance corporations and pension funds (S.123)

      • Financial auxiliaries (S.124)

      • Insurance corporations and pension funds (S.125)

    • 5. The sub-sectoring of some special cases

      • Holding corporations

      • Regulatory bodies

      • Secondary financial activities

  • E. The general government sector and its sub-sectors

    • 1. Introduction: governments as institutional units

      • Government units as producers

    • 2. Social security funds

    • 3. The general government sector (S.13)

    • 4. Sub-sectors of the general government sector

      • Central government (S.1311)

      • State government (S.1312)

      • Local government (S.1313)

      • Social security funds (S.1314)

    • 5. The alternative method of sub-sectoring

  • F. The households sector and its sub-sectors

    • 1. Introduction: households as institutional units

    • 2. Households as producers

      • Household unincorporated market enterprises

      • Household enterprises producing for own final use

        • Producers of goods for own final use

        • Producers of services for own final use

    • 3. The household sector and its sub-sectors (S.14)

  • G. The non-profit institutions serving households sector (S.15)

  • H. The rest of the world (S.2)

    • • International organizations

  • Annex: Extract from the resolution of the fifteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians, January 1993, concerning statistics of employment in the informal sector

• V. Establishments and industries

  • A. Introduction

  • B. Productive activities

    • 1. The classification of activities in the System

    • 2. Principal, secondary and ancillary activities

      • Principal activities

      • Secondary activities

      • Ancillary activities

        • Changes in ancillary activities

        • The role of ancillary activities in the economic system

  • C. Partitioning enterprises into more homogeneous units

    • 1. Kind-of-activity units

    • 2. Local units

    • 3. Establishments

      • The data for establishments

      • Application of the principles in specific situations

        • Central ancillary activities

        • Establishments within integrated enterprises

        • Establishments owned by general government

  • D. Industries

    • 1. Market, own account and other non-market producers

    • 2. Industries and products

  • E. Units of homogenous production

• VI. The production account

  • A. Introduction

  • B. Production

    • 1. Production as an economic activity

      • Goods and services

        • Goods

        • Services

    • 2. The production boundary

      • The general production boundary

      • The production boundary in the System

        • Domestic and personal services produced for own final consumption within households

      • The production boundary within households

        • Own-account production of goods

        • “Do-it-yourself” decoration, maintenance and small repairs

        • The use of consumption goods

        • Services of owner-occupied dwellings

      • Illegal production

      • Concealed production and the underground economy

  • C. The measurement of production

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Output (P.1)

      • Market output, output produced for own final use and other non-market output

        • Market output (P.11)

        • Output produced for own final use (P.12)

        • Other non-market output (P.13)

      • Market, own account and other non-market producers

  • D. The measurement of market output

    • 1. Recording of sales

    • 2. Recording of barter

    • 3. Recording of compensation in kind or other payments in kind

    • 4. Changes in inventories of outputs

      • Introduction

      • Output, sales and changes in inventories

        • Storage services

      • Approximate measures of changes in inventories

      • Changes in inventories in business accounts

      • Work-in-progress

        • Time of recording of work-in-progress

        • Valuation of work-in-progress

    • 5. Deliveries between establishments belonging to the same enterprise

  • E. Measurement of output produced for own final use

    • • Output of services for own consumption

      • Services produced by employing paid domestic staff

      • Services of owner-occupied dwellings

  • F. Measurement of other non-market output

    • • Valuation of the total output of other non-market producers

  • G. The output of particular industries

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Agriculture, forestry and fishing

      • The estimation of work-in-progress in advance

    • 3. Machinery, equipment and construction

    • 4. Transportation and storage

      • Transportation

      • Storage

        • Storage and the measurement of changes in inventories

    • 5. Wholesale and retail distribution

    • 6. Operating leasing

      • Financial leasing

    • 7. Financial intermediaries except insurance corporations and pension funds

      • Introduction

      • The output of financial intermediation services indirectly measured

      • Central banks

      • Unincorporated financial intermediaries and money lenders

    • 8. Insurance

    • 9. Autonomous pension funds

    • 10. Research and development

    • 11. The production of originals and copies

  • H. Intermediate consumption (P.2)

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. The timing and valuation of intermediate consumption

    • 3. The boundary between intermediate consumption and compensation of employees

    • 4. The boundary between intermediate consumption and gross fixed capital formation

      • Small tools

      • Maintenance and repairs

      • Research and development

      • Mineral exploration

      • Military equipment

    • 5. Collective services

    • 6. Social transfers

    • 7. Services of business associations

    • 8. The boundary between intermediate consumption and value added

  • I. Consumption of fixed capital (K.1)

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Consumption of fixed capital and rentals on fixed assets

    • 3. The calculation of consumption of fixed capital

    • 4. The coverage of consumption of fixed capital

    • 5. The perpetual inventory method

      • Calculation of the gross capital stock at current prices

      • Relative efficiencies and rentals

      • Rates of capital consumption

      • Values of consumption of fixed capital

      • Gross and net capital stocks

    • 6. “Gross” and “net” recording

  • J. Basic, producers’ and purchasers’ prices

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Basic and producers’ prices

      • VAT and similar deductible taxes

        • Gross and net recording of VAT

    • 3. Purchasers’ prices

  • K. Valuation of outputs and inputs

    • 1. Output

    • 2. Intermediate consumption

  • L. Gross and net value added (B.1)

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Alternative measures of value added

      • Gross value added at basic prices

      • Gross value added at producers’ prices

      • Gross value added at factor cost

  • M. The main aggregates associated with value added

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. A résumé of the main identities

    • 3. Domestic production

• VII. The primary distribution of income account

  • A. Introduction

    • 1. The generation of income account

    • 2. The allocation of primary income account

      • Gross national income and net national income

    • 3. The entrepreneurial income account

  • B. Compensation of employees (D.1)

    • 1. Introduction

      • The employment relationship

        • Employers and own-account workers

        • Outworkers

      • The components of compensation of employees

      • Wages and salaries (D. 11)

        • Wages and salaries in cash

        • Wages and salaries in kind

      • Employers’ social contributions (D.12)

        • Employers’ actual social contributions (D.121)

        • Employers’ imputed social contributions (D.122)

  • C. Taxes on production and on imports (D.2)

    • 1. Introduction

      • The recording of taxes on production and imports in the accounts

      • Taxes versus fees

      • Links with the IMF and OECD tax classifications

      • The accrual basis of recording

      • Interest, fines or other penalties

    • 2. Taxes on products (D.21)

      • Value added type taxes (D.211)

      • Taxes and duties on imports, excluding VAT (D.212)

        • Import duties (D.2121)

        • Taxes on imports, excluding VAT and duties (D.2122)

      • Export taxes (D.213)

      • Taxes on products, excluding VAT, import and export taxes (D.214)

    • 3. Other taxes on production (D.29)

  • D. Subsidies (D.3)

    • 1. Subsidies on products (D.31)

      • Import subsidies (D.311)

      • Export subsidies (D.312)

        • Exclusions from export subsidies

      • Other subsidies on products (D.319)

    • 2. Other subsidies on production

  • E. Operating surplus or mixed income (B.2/B.3)

    • Mixed income

  • F. Property incomes (D.4)

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Property incomes distinguished from rentals

    • 3. Interest (D.41)

      • Introduction

        • The accrual basis of recording

      • Interest on deposits, loans and accounts receivable and payable

      • Interest on securities

        • Interest on bills and similar instruments

        • Interest on bonds and debentures

      • Interest rate swaps and forward rate agreements

      • Interest on financial leases

      • Interest payable and receivable by financial intermediaries

      • Nominal and real interest

    • 4. Distributed income of corporations (D.42)

      • Dividends (D.421)

      • Withdrawals from income of quasi-corporations (D.422)

    • 5. Reinvested earnings on direct foreign investment (D.43)

    • 6. Property income attributed to insurance policyholders (D.44)

    • 7. Rents (D.45)

      • Rents on land

      • Rents on subsoil assets

• VIII. The secondary distribution of income account

  • A. Introduction

    • 1. The secondary distribution of income account

      • Current taxes on income, wealth etc. (D.5)

      • Social contributions and benefits (D.6)

      • Other current transfers (D.7)

    • 2. Disposable income (B.6)

      • Links with economic theoretic concepts of income

      • National disposable income

    • 3. The redistribution of income in kind account

    • 4. Adjusted disposable income (B.7)

  • B. Transfers

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. The distinction between current and capital transfers

    • 3. The recording of transfers

      • Transfers in cash

      • Transfers in kind, except social transfers in kind

      • Social transfers in kind

    • 4. The treatment of transfers in kind: summary

  • C. Current taxes on income, wealth, etc. (D.5)

    • 1. Introduction

      • Taxes versus fees

      • Links with the IMF and OECD tax classifications

      • The accrual basis of recording

      • Interest, fines or other penalties

    • 2. Taxes on income (D.51)

    • 3. Other current taxes (D.59)

      • Current taxes on capital

      • Miscellaneous current taxes

  • D. Social insurance schemes

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Circumstances covered by social insurance schemes

    • 3. The organization of social insurance schemes

      • Social security schemes

      • Private funded social insurance schemes

    • 4. Different types of social contributions and benefits

  • E. Social contributions (D.61)

    • 1. Employers’ actual social contributions (D.6111)

    • 2. Employees’ social contributions (D.6112)

    • 3. Social contributions by self-employed and non-employed persons (D.6113)

    • 4. Imputed social contributions (D.612)

  • F. Social benefits

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Social benefits other than social transfers in kind (D.62)

      • Social security benefits in cash (D.621)

      • Private funded social insurance benefits (D.622)

      • Unfunded employee social insurance benefits (D.623)

      • Social assistance benefits in cash (D.624)

  • G. Other current transfers (D.7)

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Net non-life insurance premiums (D.71)

    • 3. Non-life insurance claims (D.72)

    • 4. Current transfers within general government (D.73)

    • 5. Current international cooperation (D.74)

    • 6. Miscellaneous current transfers (D.75)

      • Current transfers to NPISHs

      • Current transfers between households

      • Fines and penalties

      • Lotteries and gambling

      • Payments of compensation

  • H. Social transfers in kind (D.63)

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Social security benefits, reimbursements (D.6311)

    • 3. Other social security benefits in kind (D.6312)

    • 4. Social assistance benefits in kind (D.6313)

    • 5. Transfers of individual non-market goods or services (D.632)

• IX. The use of income account

  • A. Introduction

    • 1. The use of disposable income account

    • 2. The use of adjusted disposable income account

    • 3. The relationship between the two versions of the use of income account

    • 4. Adjustment for the change in the net equity of households in pension funds (D.8)

    • 5. Saving (B.8)

  • B. Expenditures, acquisitions and uses

    • 1. Expenditures

      • The incidence of expenditures

      • The timing of expenditures

      • Imputed expenditures

      • Sales of existing goods as negative expenditures

    • 2. Acquisitions

    • 3. Uses

      • Durable versus non-durable goods

      • Consumption as an activity

  • C. Consumption goods and services

  • D. Household final consumption expenditure (P.3)

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Expenditures by households owning unincorporated enterprises

    • 3. Barter transactions

    • 4. Expenditures on goods and services received as income in kind

    • 5. Expenditures on goods and services produced on own account

    • 6. Expenditures on particular types of goods and services

      • Expenditures on financial intermediation services

        • Financial intermediation services, except insurance and pension fund services

        • Insurance and pension fund services

      • Services of dwellings, repairs and improvements

        • Services of owner-occupied dwellings

        • Decoration, maintenance and repair

        • Major improvements

      • The repair and maintenance of durables

      • Licences and fees

    • 7. Classification of household final consumption expenditure

    • 8. Timing and valuation of household final consumption expenditure

      • Timing

      • Valuation

        • Valuation of purchases on credit

        • Expenditures by resident and non-resident households

  • E. Household actual final consumption (P.4)

  • F. Consumption expenditures incurred by general government and NPISHs (P.3)

    • 1. Expenditures on the outputs of market and non-market producers

      • Expenditures on the outputs of non-market producers

      • Expenditures on consumption goods or services produced by market producers

    • 2. Expenditures on individual and collective goods and services (P.31/P.32)

      • Individual goods or services

      • Collective services

      • The borderline between individual and collective services

      • The classification of individual and collective government expenditures

      • Non-market services to enterprises

  • G. Actual final consumption of general government (P.4)

  • H. Final consumption expenditure and actual final consumption: summary

    • 1. The expenditure aggregates

    • 2. Actual final consumption

      • Actual final consumption of households (P.41)

      • Actual final consumption of general government (P.41/P.42)

    • 3. Total final consumption in the economy

• X. The capital account

  • General introduction to the accumulation accounts and balance sheets

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Assets

      • Financial assets

      • Non-financial assets

        • Produced assets

        • Non-produced assets

      • The asset boundary

      • Valuation

    • 3. Balance sheets and the sequence of accumulation accounts

  • Capital account

  • A. Introduction

    • 1. Changes in non-financial assets

    • 2. Saving and capital transfers

    • 3. Net lending or borrowing (B.9)

  • B. Gross capital formation (P.5)

    • 1. Gross fixed capital formation (P.51)

      • Existing assets

      • Tangible fixed assets under financial leases

      • Major improvements to existing assets

        • Improvements to fixed assets

        • Improvements to tangible non-produced assets

      • Costs of ownership transfer

        • Fixed assets

        • Land

        • Other non-produced assets

      • Acquisitions less disposals of tangible fixed assets (P.511)

        • Producers’ durables excluded from gross fixed capital formation

        • Dwellings and other buildings and structures

        • Machinery and equipment

        • Cultivated assets

      • Acquisitions less disposals of intangible fixed assets (P.512)

        • Mineral exploration

        • Computer software

        • Entertainment, literary or artistic originals

    • 2. Changes in inventories (P.52)

      • Materials and supplies

      • Work-in-progress

        • Work-in-progress on cultivated assets

        • Work-in-progress on other fixed assets

      • Finished goods

      • Goods for resale

    • 3. Acquisitions less disposals of valuables (P.53)

  • C. Consumption of fixed capital

  • D. Acquisitions less disposals of non-produced non-financial assets (P.513)

    • 1. Acquisitions less disposals of land

    • 2. Acquisitions less disposals of other tangible non-produced assets

    • 3. Acquisitions less disposals of intangible non-produced assets

  • E. Capital transfers (D.9)

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Capital taxes (D.91)

    • 3. Investment grants (D.92)

    • 4. Other capital transfers (D.99)

  • Annex: Gross fixed capital formation and costs of ownership transfer

• XI. The financial account

  • A. Introduction

  • B. The role of the financial account

    • Counterparts of financial transactions

  • C. Financial transactions

    • 1. The nature of financial transactions and special cases

      • Financial assets

      • Financial claims and obligations

      • Other changes in volume and value of financial assets and liabilities

        • Monetary gold and SDRs

        • Valuation

        • Debt operations

      • Contingent assets

    • 2. Exceptions to general rules

    • 3. Financial derivatives

  • D. Accounting rules for financial transactions

    • 1. Valuation

    • 2. Time of recording

    • 3. Basis of recording—netting and consolidation

  • E. Classification of financial transactions

    • 1. Classification criteria

      • Money

      • Maturity

      • Asset/liability symmetry

      • Functional categories

      • Reserve assets

    • 2. Summary descriptions of transactions in financial assets and liabilities

      • Monetary gold and SDRs (F.1)

      • Currency and deposits (F.2)

        • Currency (F.21)

        • Transferable deposits (F.22)

        • Other deposits (F.29)

      • Securities other than shares (F.3)

        • Short-term (F.31)

        • Long-term (F.32)

      • Loans (F.4)

        • Short-term (F.41)

        • Long-term (F.42)

      • Shares and other equity (F.5)

      • Insurance technical reserves (F.6)

        • Net equity of households in life insurance reserves and pension funds (F.61)

        • Prepayments of insurance premiums and reserves for outstanding claims (F.62)

      • Other accounts receivable/payable (F.7)

        • Trade credit and advances (F.71)

        • Other (F.79)

      • Memorandum item: direct foreign investment

  • F. Detailed flow of funds accounts

• XII. Other changes in assets account

  • A. Other changes in the volume of assets account

    • 1. Introduction

      • Functions of the other changes in the volume of assets account

      • Categories of changes in assets/liabilities and their valuation

    • 2. Economic appearance of non-produced assets (K.3)

      • Gross additions to the level of exploitable subsoil resources

      • Transfers of other natural assets to economic activity

      • Quality changes in non-produced assets due to changes in economic uses

      • Appearance of intangible non-produced assets

    • 3. Economic appearance of produced assets (K.4)

    • 4. Natural growth of non-cultivated biological resources (K.5)

    • 5. Economic disappearance of non-produced assets (K.6)

      • Depletion of natural economic assets (K.61)

      • Other economic disappearance of non-produced assets (K.62)

        • Other reductions in the level of exploitable subsoil resources

        • Quality change in non-produced assets due to changes in economic uses

        • Degradation of non-produced assets due to economic activity

        • Write-off and cancellation of purchased goodwill, transferable contracts, etc., and exhaustion of patent protection

    • 6. Catastrophic losses (K.7)

    • 7. Uncompensated seizures (K.8)

    • 8. Other volume changes in non-financial assets n.e.c. (K.9)

      • Unforeseen obsolescence

      • Differences between allowances included in consumption of fixed capital for normal damage and actual losses

      • Degradation of fixed assets not accounted for in consumption of fixed capital

      • Abandonment of production facilities before completion or being brought into economic use

      • Exceptional losses in inventories

      • Other volume changes in non-financial assets, n.e.c

    • 9. Other volume changes in financial assets and liabilities n.e.c. (K.10)

      • Allocations and cancellations of SDRs

      • Writing-off bad debts by creditors

      • Counterpart of “other accounts receivable/payable” for defined benefit pension funds

      • Miscellaneous other volume changes in financial assets

    • 10. Changes in classifications and structure (K. 12)

      • Changes in sector classification and structure (K.12.1)

      • Changes in classification of assets and liabilities (K.12.2)

        • Monetization/demonetization of gold (K. 12.21)

        • Changes in classification of assets or liabilities other than monetization/demonetization of gold (K. 12.22)

  • B. The revaluation account

    • 1. Introduction

      • Nominal holding gains (K.11)

      • Neutral holding gains (K.11.1)

      • Real holding gains (K.11.2)

    • 2. The measurement of holding gains

      • Nominal holding gains

      • Neutral holding gains

      • Real holding gains

    • 3. Estimates of holding gains from balance sheet data

    • 4. Holding gains by type of asset

      • Non-financial assets

        • Fixed assets

        • Inventories

      • Financial assets

        • Assets and liabilities with fixed monetary values

        • Bonds

    • 5. Foreign assets

  • Annex: The definition and measurement of holding gains

  • A. The measurement of nominal holding gains

  • B. The measurement of neutral and real holding gains

    • 1. Neutral holding gains

    • 2. Real holding gains

• XIII. The balance sheet

  • A. Introduction

    • 1. Structure of the account

    • 2. Main categories of assets: their scope and characteristics

      • Non-financial produced assets (AN.1)

      • Non-financial non-produced assets (AN.2)

      • Financial assets and liabilities (AF.)

    • 3. Financial leasing

    • 4. General principles of valuation

      • Value observed in markets

      • Values obtained by accumulating and revaluing transactions

      • Present value of future returns

      • Assets in foreign currencies

  • B. The entries in the balance sheet

    • 1. Produced assets (AN.1)

      • Fixed assets (AN.11)

        • Tangible fixed assets (AN.111)

        • Intangible fixed assets (AN.112)

      • Inventories (AN.12)

      • Valuables (AN.13)

    • 2. Non-produced assets (AN.2)

      • Tangible non-produced assets (AN.21)

        • Land (AN.211)

        • subsoil assets (AN.212)

        • Other natural assets (AN.213 and AN.214)

      • Intangible non-produced assets (AN.22)

    • 3. Financial assets/liabilities (AF.)

      • Monetary gold and SDRs (AF.1)

      • Currency and deposits (AF.2)

      • Securities other than shares (AF.3)

      • Loans (AF.4)

      • Shares and other equity (AF.5)

      • Insurance technical reserves (AF.6)

      • Other accounts receivable/payable (AF.7)

    • 4. Net worth (B.90)

    • 5. Memorandum items

      • Consumer durables (AN.m)

      • Direct foreign investment (AF.m)

      • Net equity of households in unfunded pension schemes

      • Alternative valuations for long-term debt and corporate equity

  • C. The changes in balance sheets account

  • D. Stocks of financial assets and liabilities analysed by sector of debtor and creditor

  • Annex: Definitions of assets

• XIV. The rest of the world account (external transactions account)

  • A. Introduction

  • B. Residence

    • 1. The economic territory of a country

    • 2. Centre of economic interest

    • 3. The residence of households and individuals

    • 4. The residence of corporations and quasi-corporations

      • Attribution of production

      • Units operating mobile equipment

    • 5. The residence of non-profit institutions

    • 6. General government

    • 7. Regional central banks

  • C. General accounting rules

    • 1. Valuation

      • Goods

      • Services

      • Primary incomes

      • Transfers

      • Financial items

      • Stocks of assets and liabilities

    • 2. Time of recording

      • Goods

        • Exceptions to the change of ownership principle

        • Timing in relation to physical movements of goods

      • Services

      • Primary incomes

      • Transfers

      • Financial transactions

    • 3. Conversion and the unit of account

      • Multiple official exchange rates

      • Black or parallel market rates

  • D. The external accounts of goods and services and of primary incomes and current transfers

    • 1. The external account of goods and services

      • Goods

        • Examples of goods which may be sold as exports or purchased as imports without crossing the country’s frontier

        • Examples of goods which may cross frontiers but are excluded from exports or imports

      • Services

        • Construction

        • Installation

        • Transportation

        • Tourism

        • Insurance

        • Licence fees

        • Financial services

    • 2. The external account for primary incomes and current transfers

      • Compensation of employees

      • Taxes minus subsidies on production and imports

      • Property income

      • Current transfers

  • E. External accumulation accounts

    • 1. Capital account

    • 2. Changes in net worth and net lending or borrowing

    • 3. Financial account

      • Financial assets

      • Selected transactions in financial assets

    • 4. Other changes in assets accounts

      • Other changes in volume of assets account

      • Revaluation account

  • F. Relationship between the current external transactions and accumulation accounts and the balance of payments accounts

  • G. External assets and liabilities account

    • 1. Structure of the account

    • 2. Valuation

    • 3. Direct foreign investment

    • 4. External debt and the balance sheet

• XV. Supply and use tables and input-output

  • A. Input-output in the System

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. The input-output context

    • 3. Statistical units for input-output

  • B. Disaggregation of goods and services account

    • 1. Goods and services account

    • 2. Valuation and appropriate treatment of taxes and margins

      • Valuation concepts and their interrelationships

      • Valuation of product flows

      • Trade and transport margins

      • Taxes and subsidies on products

  • C. Supply and use table

    • 1. Format of the supply and use tables

    • 2. The supply table

      • Introduction

      • Output of market, own account and other non-market producers

      • Imports recorded c.i.f. and f.o.b

    • 3. The use table

      • Introduction

      • Breakdown of uses

      • Uses of value added

      • Industry breakdown of gross fixed capital formation, stocks of fixed assets and labour inputs

      • Cross-classification of uses of value added by institutional sectors and industries

    • 4. Illustrations of the supply and use table

  • D. Derived and analytical input-output tables

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. The use table at basic prices

    • 3. Distinction between use of products from resident producers and of imported products

    • 4. Conversion of the supply and use tables into symmetric tables

      • Kind of amendments to the supply and use table

      • Adding analytical assumptions to basic data

    • 5. Symmetric input-output tables

      • Format of the recommended tables

      • Illustrations of the product-by-product table

  • E. Some aspects of input-output compilation

    • 1. Input-output strategy

    • 2. Constant-price estimation

  • F. Purposes and uses of input-output data

    • 1. Input-output as a framework

    • 2. Input-output for analysis

• XVI. Price and volume measures

  • A. Introduction

  • B. Values, prices and quantities

    • Volumes

    • Quantity and unit value indices

  • C. Intertemporal index numbers of prices and volumes

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Laspeyres and Paasche indices

      • Values at constant prices

    • 3. The relationship between Laspeyres and Paasche indices

      • The economic theoretic approach to index numbers

  • D. Chain indices

    • 1. The rebasing and linking of indices

    • 2. Rebasing and linking each period

      • Introduction

      • Chain Laspeyres and Paasche indices

      • Chain Fisher or Tornqvist indices

      • Chaining and data coverage

      • Additivity and chaining

  • E. Volume measures for gross value added and GDP

    • 1. Chain indices for value added and GDP

    • 2. Single indicators

    • 3. GDP volume

    • 4. The publication of alternative volume and price series

  • F. International price and volume indices

    • 1. Binary comparisons

      • Purchasing power parities

      • The spread between Laspeyres and Paasche indices

    • 2. Multilateral comparisons

      • Transitivity

      • The block approach

      • The binary approach

      • The publication of alternative volume and price measures

  • G. The treatment of differences and changes in quality

    • 1. Quality differences, price variation and price discrimination

    • 2. Changes in quality over time

      • The use of the hedonic hypothesis

  • H. Choice between direct and indirect measurement of prices and volumes

  • I. Non-market goods and services

  • J. Scope of price of volume measures in the System

    • 1. Compensation of employees

    • 2. Consumption of fixed capital

    • 3. Taxes and subsidies on products

    • 4. Net operating surplus

  • K. Measures of real income for the total economy

    • 1. Introduction

    • 2. Trading gains and losses from changes in the terms of trade

    • 3. The interrelationship between volume measures and real income aggregates

• XVII. Population and labour inputs

  • A. Introduction

  • B. Population and labour concepts without national boundaries

    • 1. Population and employment

    • 2. Jobs

    • 3. Total hours worked

    • 4. Full-time equivalence

    • 5. Employee labour input at constant compensation

  • C. National boundaries

    • 1. Population

    • 2. Jobs

    • 3. Total hours worked

    • 4. Full-time equivalent employment

    • 5. Employee labour input at constant compensation

  • D. Classifications

• XVIII. Functional classifications

  • A. Introduction

  • B. Applying the classifications

• XIX. Application of the integrated framework to various circumstances and needs

  • A. Introduction

  • B. Detailed analysis of the household sector

    • 1. Sub-sectoring the household sector

    • 2. Applying the sequence of accounts to sub-sectors

    • 3. Introducing complementary details in transactions and balancing items

  • C. Expenditures by enterprises in transition economies on behalf of employees

  • D. Public, national private and foreign controlled sectors

    • 1. The public sector

    • 2. The national private and foreign controlled sectors

    • 3. Restatement of purpose

  • E. Key sector and other special sector accounts

  • F. External accounts problems

  • G. High inflation

  • H. Quarterly accounts

  • I. Regional accounts

  • Annex A. The treatment of official multiple exchange rate systems

  • A. Introduction

  • B. A simple example

  • C. A full-scale case and the complete accounting treatment in the System

  • D. Taking into account the existence of parallel exchange markets which are not part of the official exchange policy

  • Annex B. A parallel treatment of interest under significant inflation

  • A. Introduction: two ways of adjusting nominal interest in the context of significant inflation

  • B. Parallel treatment of interest under significant inflation within the central framework

  • C. The accounting treatment in detail

  • D. A link with the calculation of the output of financial intermediaries

• XX. Social accounting matrices

  • A. Introduction

  • B. A matrix presentation of SNA accounts

    • 1. A matrix presentation of several accounts for the total economy

    • 2. Possibilities for expanding or contracting an accounting matrix

    • 3. Properties of accounting matrices

  • C. The SAM approach

    • 1. Social accounting

    • 2. SAMs as an illustration of the SNA’s flexibility

  • D. Schematic presentation of a social accounting matrix

    • 1. The supply and use table as a SAM building-block

    • 2. Focus on income generation

    • 3. Distribution and use of income

    • 4. Capital and financial flows

    • 5. External transactions

  • E. A more detailed SAM

    • 1. Criteria for classifications

    • 2. Structure of a more detailed SAM

    • 3. A detailed value-added submatrix

  • F. Alternative social accounting frameworks

    • 1. Alternative accounting structures

    • 2. An example of a SAM including balance sheets

  • G. Applications of the SAM

    • 1. More integration of available basic data

    • 2. SAMs as a tool for modelling and policy-analysis

• XXI. Satellite analysis and accounts

  • A. Introduction

  • B. Satellite analysis

    • 1. Production and products

    • 2. Income

      • Primary incomes

      • Transfers and disposable income

    • 3. Uses of goods and services

    • 4. Assets and liabilities

    • 5. Purposes

    • 6. Aggregates

      • Changes in the main aggregates shown in the central framework

      • Introduction of aggregates by purpose

    • 7. Other aspects

    • 8. From analyses to accounts

  • C. Framework for functionally oriented satellite accounts

    • 1. Scope of a functionally oriented satellite account

    • 2. Uses/national expenditure

    • 3. Components of uses/national expenditure

    • 4. Users/beneficiaries

    • 5. Financing

    • 6. Production and products

    • 7. Full accounts for characteristic producers

    • 8. Non-monetary data

    • 9. Links with the central framework

    • 10. Perspective on the framework

  • D. Satellite system for integrated environmental and economic accounting

    • 1. The scope of environmental accounting

    • 2. Alternative approaches to environmental accounting

      • Natural resource accounting in physical terms

      • Environmental accounts in monetary terms

      • Welfare and similar approaches

    • 3. General framework of environmental accounts and the SNA

      • SNA framework

      • The SNA framework extended to environmental accounts

    • 4. Details on environmental amendments to SNA framework, concepts and classifications

      • Alternative frameworks for environmental accounts

      • Asset boundary and classification

      • Environmental cost

        • Use of non-produced natural assets

        • Environmental protection expenses

      • Net capital accumulation

      • Valuation

• Annexes*

  • I. Changes from the 1968 System of National Accounts

  • II. Relationship of the rest of the world account to the balance of payments accounts and the international investment position

  • III. Financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM)

  • IV. The treatment of insurance, social insurance and pensions

  • V. Classifications and accounts

  • VI. List of expert group meetings on the revision of the System of National Accounts

• Index

• Figures

  • 2.1. Survey of the central framework

  • 2.2. Integrated economic accounts (simplified presentation)

  • 2.3. Synoptic presentation of the accounts, balancing items and main aggregates

  • 2.4. Diagram of the integrated economic accounts for the total economy

  • 17.1. Population and labour concepts

  • 17.2. Distinguishing between employment as employee and in self-employment

  • 20.1. Example of a household taxonomy using a tree-structure

• Tables

  • 2.1.

    • I: Production account

    • II.1: Primary distribution of income account

    • II.2: Secondary distribution of income account

    • II.3: Redistribution of income in kind account

    • II.4: Use of income account

    • III.1: Capital account

    • III.2: Financial account

    • III.3.1: Other changes in volume of assets account

    • III.3.2: Revaluation account

    • IV: Balance sheets

  • 2.2. Account 0: Goods and services account

  • 2.3. Account V: Rest of the world account (external transactions account)

  • 2.4. Equations

  • 2.5. Matrix presentation of the full sequence of accounts and balancing items for the total economy (reduced format) inside back cover

  • 2.6. Example of a transactions account: account for property income

  • 2.7. Assets and liabilities accounts (example for the total economy)

  • 2.8. Integrated economic accounts

  • 2.9. Shortened sequence of accounts for industries

  • 2.10. Supply and use (reduced format)

  • 2.11. Financial transactions between creditor and debtor sectors (reduced format)

  • 2.12. Integrated balance sheets and accumulation accounts (example for the total economy)

  • 4.1. Institutional units cross-classified by sector and type

  • 6.1. Account I: Production account

  • 7.1. Account II.1.1: Generation of income account

  • 7.2. Account II.1.2: Allocation of primary income account

  • 7.3. Primary distribution of income—identification of entrepreneurial income

  • 8.1. Account II.2: Secondary distribution of income account

  • 8.2. Account II.3: Redistribution of income in kind account

  • 9.1. Account II.4.1: Use of disposable income account

  • 9.2. Account II.4.2: Use of adjusted disposable income account

  • 10.1. Account III.1: Capital account

  • 11.1. Account III.2: Financial account

  • 11.2. Classification of transactions in financial assets and liabilities

  • 11.3a. Detailed flow of funds (financial assets)

  • 11.3b. Detailed flow of funds (financial liabilities)

  • 12.1. Account III.3.1: Other changes in volume of assets account

  • 12.2. Account III.3.2: Revaluation account

  • 13.1. Account IV: Balance sheets

  • 13.2. Balance sheets and accumulation accounts (a map of entries from opening balance sheet to closing balance sheet)

  • 13.3a. Stocks of financial assets analysed by sector of debtor and creditor

  • 13.3b. Stocks of financial liabilities analysed by sector of debtor and creditor

  • 14.1. Account V: Rest of the world account (external transactions account)

  • 15.1. Supply of products at basic prices and use of products at purchasers’ prices

  • 15.2. Supply and use: trade and transport margins, taxes and subsidies on intermediate and final use of products

  • 15.3. Cross classification of production account items by industries and institutional sectors

  • 15.4a. Supply and use: final and intermediate uses at basic prices, market/non-market distinction and ISIC breakdown

  • 15.4b. Supply and use: final and intermediate uses at basic prices, ISIC breakdown

  • 15.5. Import matrix, basic prices (c.i.f.)

  • 15.6. Input-output symmetric table, basic prices—product by product

  • 15.7. Input-output symmetric table, basic prices—product by product with imported products separated from domestic products

  • 16.1. The rebasing and linking of volume indices and series at constant prices: a numerical example

  • 18.1. Classification of individual consumption by purpose (COICOP)

  • 18.2. Classification of total outlays of government by function (COFOG)

  • 18.3. Classification of total outlays of non-profit institutions serving households by purpose (COPNI)

  • 18.4. Classification of selected outlays of producers by purpose (COPP)

  • 19.1. Sub-sectoring of households

  • 19.2. Integrated economic accounts for the household sector

  • 19.3. Integrated economic accounts with public sector details and national/foreign distinction

  • 19.4. Supply and use table with key activities and products details

  • 19.5. Integrated economic accounts with key sector details

  • 19.6. Account V.I: External account of goods and services

  • 19.7. Account V.II: External account of primary incomes and current transfers

  • 19.8. Account V.III.1: Capital account

  • 19.9. Account V.III.2: Financial account

  • 19.10. Account V.IV: Goods and services account

  • 19.11. Account V.V: Supply of products

  • 19.12. Account V.VI: Use of products

  • 19.13. Accounts for general government

    • Account II.1.2: Allocation of primary income account

    • Account II.2: Secondary distribution of income account

    • Account III.1: Capital account

    • Account III.2: Financial account

  • 19.14. Accounts for financial corporations

    • Account II.2: Secondary distribution of income account

    • Account III.1: Capital account

    • Account III.2: Financial account

  • 19.15. Account V.VII: Integrated economic accounts

  • 20.1. Consolidated version of the reduced SNA matrix (chapter II, annex)

  • 20.2. Consolidated SNA matrix with sub-accounts

  • 20.3. Consolidated SNA matrix with dummy accounts

  • 20.4. Schematic presentation of a SAM

  • 20.5. Example of a more detailed SAM

  • 20.6. Detailed value added sub-matrix (table 20.4, cell 3.2)

  • 20.7. Example of a SAM with balance sheets

  • 21.1. Components of uses/national expenditure

  • 21.2. Coverage of national expenditure in various fields

  • 21.3. National expenditure by components and by users/beneficiaries

  • 21.4. National expenditure by components and financing units

  • 21.5. Satellite input-output table (supply and use table)

  • 21.6. Basic structure of the SEEA

  • 21.7. Classification of natural assets in the SNA and the SEEA

  • 21.8. Other accumulation entries of the SNA related to use of non-produced natural assets

  • 21.9. Two-digit ISIC categories that identify environmental protection services

Preface

The System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA) represents a major advance in national accounting. Adoption of the 1993 SNA was unanimously recommended to the United Nations Economic and Social Council by its Statistical Commission at its twenty-seventh session, held in New York from 22 February to 3 March 1993.¹ In its resolution 1993/5 of 12 July 1993, the Council recommends that member States consider using the 1993 SNA as the international standard for the compilation of their national accounts statistics, to promote the integration of economic and related statistics, as an analytical tool, and in the international reporting of comparable national accounting data. The Council further recommends that international organizations consider the 1993 SNA and its concepts when they review standards for particular fields of economic statistics and endeavour to achieve consistency with the 1993 SNA.

As another step in the evolution of national accounting, the 1993 SNA successfully maintains the proven strengths of the previous System² while satisfying the Statistical Commission’s mandate to update the previous System to fit new circumstances, to clarify and simplify it, and to harmonize it more completely with other international statistical standards.

Perspectives on the 1993 SNA: looking back and looking ahead

With the 1993 SNA, significant advances in national accounting have been achieved. The significance of these advances is best appreciated in light of some historical background, provided in the first section below. The second section discusses a research agenda which looks ahead to the SNA’s continuing evolution in the future.

Reader’s guide

The goal of this publication is to describe the SNA as a conceptual system. This conceptual system is meant to be applicable to economies around the world. The publication therefore recognizes differing conditions and institutional arrangements that may be found in developed and developing countries and in newly emerging market economies. Further, it attempts to present the rationale for the treatments applied so that national accountants can, by extension, decide on treatments for new developments and new institutional arrangements in the future.

The publication does not attempt to provide guidance on how to make estimates, on the priority with which different accounts should be implemented, or on the frequency and format of their presentation. Instead, both practical guidance and specialized guidance are to be given in supplementary manuals and compilation guides that will receive increased attention now that the conceptual system is in place. Several manuals and guides are already in preparation. Publication of the handbook Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting is expected in 1993. Work on the handbook on the application of the SNA in countries in transition has high priority in view of the urgent need for guidance to countries that previously had used the System of Balances of the National Economy. Preliminary discussions have taken place on a handbook dealing with application of the SNA in countries with high rates of inflation. The International Monetary Fund is developing its compilation guides in parallel with its conceptual manuals. The first of these is expected in 1993 to accompany the fifth edition of the Balance of Payments Manual.

The 21 chapters in this publication are in five groups. They are organized, first of all, to reinforce the structure of the SNA - for simplicity, called the System. Secondly, they are organized in recognition of the fact that not all chapters will be read by the same individuals or used in the same way. Some chapters, it can be expected, will even be used by the same individual in different ways at different times.

The chapters in group I provide information about the 1993 SNA designed to be of interest not only to national accountants but also to others, such as analysts who use national accounts statistics, economic journalists, statisticians in fields other than national accounts and government officials who make decisions that will affect resources available for the development of statistics. Chapter I describes the main features of the sequence of accounts in the System, its institutional sectors, and its concepts and classifications; the uses of national accounts; the harmonization between different statistical systems; the links with business accounting and with economic theory; and the roles the aggregates can and cannot serve. Chapter II gives a picture of the central framework of the SNA. As an overview it is selective in order not to be overwhelming, but references are made to the appropriate chapters that follow. It first sets out the elements that make up the skeleton of the system: institutional units and sectors; transactions and other flows; assets and liabilities; activities, establishments and products; and purposes. Next it summarizes the accounting rules. The chapter then describes the accounting structure within which flows and stocks, using these tools, are entered. The chapter introduces the several degrees of flexibility that are available to the user of the System.

Group II chapters deal with the basic “tools” with which national accountants work to construct a system of accounts. Chapter III, on flows, stocks and accounting rules, defines the nature of the entries in the System and explains the rules of accounting that underlie the ways those entries are made. The discussion is a general one; definitions of specific stocks and flows and specific applications of the accounting rules appear in later chapters. Chapter IV describes institutional units and the five institutional sectors into which the resident institutional units are grouped. Chapter V describes establishments and the industries, following the International Standard Industrial Classification, into which they are grouped.

Group III chapters are built around the accounts and tables of the central framework. Chapters VI through IX cover the current accounts of the full sequence of accounts for institutional units and sectors - the production account, the primary distribution of income account, the secondary distribution of income account, and the use of income account. Chapters X through XII cover the accumulation accounts—the capital account, the financial account, the other changes in volume of assets account, and the revaluation account. Chapter XIII covers the balance sheets of the full sequence of accounts for institutional units and sectors. Chapter XIV, on the rest of the world account, covers the transactions and other flows, and resulting stock of assets and liabilities, between resident institutional units and non-resident units in respect of all kinds of economic activity. Chapter XV covers the set of supply and use tables and input-output tables that provide a more detailed basis for analysing industries and products through a breakdown of the production account, generation of income account, and goods and services account.

Group IV chapters are about measures associated with stocks and flows that are entered into the accounts and tables described. Chapter XVI describes a set of interdependent measures that make it possible to carry out analyses of inflation and economic growth. It is mainly concerned with compiling price and volume measures for flows of goods and services, but it also examines the measurement of income in real terms—that is, income adjusted for changes in purchasing power—for the total economy. Chapter XVII discusses population, which is needed to express product and consumption expenditure in per capita terms, and labour inputs, which are needed to examine productivity.

Group V chapters deal with elaborations, applications and uses of complementary or alternative concepts. Chapter XVIII describes the classifications for certain transactions in products by producers and for three institutional sectors—households, general government and non-profit institutions serving households—that identify the “purposes” or “objectives” of the transactions.

Three other chapters in group V highlight the flexibility of the System. The central framework is consistent and integrated. However, its presentation in this manual does not imply any order of priority or frequency of compilation, nor does the accounting structure described imply that results are necessarily to be presented in this way. Chapter XIX, on the application of the integrated framework to various circumstances and needs, shows how the emphases may be varied by, for example, using the System’s classifications and accounts at various levels of detail, by using different valuations, by rearranging the results and by introducing additional elements. The chapter provides recommendations for the treatment of multiple exchange rates and a parallel treatment of interest under significant inflation. Chapter XX, on social accounting matrices, illustrates the exploitation of flexibility to highlight special interests and social concerns such as poverty, featuring the display of interconnections, disaggregation of the household sector, and linkage of income generation and consumption. Chapter XXI describes how the System may be expanded for selected areas of concern by using classification schemes and concepts that are complementary or alternative to the one in the central framework. It describes a framework that may be used for functionally oriented satellite accounts, such as for tourism or social concerns such as health or education. It presents, as an example of satellite accounts that give more emphasis to alternative concepts, a framework in which natural resources are treated as capital and their using up is treated as the depletion or degradation of capital.

Several of the chapters have one or more annexes. These typically elaborate an aspect or a treatment specific to the chapter. For example, an annex to chapter II shows how the System can be presented in diagrammatic, equation and matrix form; an annex to chapter XII provides an example of how to calculate holding gains.

In addition, five of the annexes at the end of the manual pull together in one place significant information that draws upon several chapters. Annex I first describes the general features of the 1993 SNA that changed or received greater emphasis while retaining the basic theoretical framework of the 1968 SNA. Next, the annex mentions the specific changes, grouped into nine sections and with cross-references to the appropriate chapters and tables. This annex, together with the history of national accounting up through the 1968 SNA presented in the previous section, will help readers, especially those familiar with earlier systems, who wish to focus on the changes incorporated into the 1993 SNA.

Annex II lays out the relationship between the rest of the world account and the balance of payments accounts. Harmonization has been attained between the SNA and the balance of payments, as described in the fifth edition of the International Monetary Fund’s Balance of Payments Manual with respect to issues such as the delineation of resident units, valuation of transactions and of assets and liabilities, time of recording transactions, conversion procedures and the coverage of major aggregates. There are, however, differences in the level of detail. These reflect differences in analytical requirements, the relative quantitative significance in international transactions in respect of some items, and constraints imposed by the internal structure of the two systems. The annex focuses on the relationship between the aggregates and details in the SNA rest of the world accounts and corresponding items in the Manual by using a series of reconciliation tables.

Annexes III and IV show the treatment of two kinds of transactions—those related to financial intermediation services indirectly measured and those related to insurance, social insurance and pensions—that cut across several accounts.

Annex V provides the classifications and accounts. The classifications shown are for institutional sectors, transactions and other flows, and assets. The hierarchy of the classifications and the codes are systematically laid out. A complementary classification of transactions and other flows facilitates additional presentations and analysis. It shows a number of transactions in kind explicitly, the components of certain flows, such as output, and certain observed transactions that are split into components for use in the System. In addition, the functional classifications described in chapter XVIII are provided for convenience. The sequence of accounts for institutional sectors and the rest of the world are presented in full detail.

Several features of the volume are designed specifically to aid the reader. First, the table of contents is very detailed, reproducing the headings used in each chapter. Thus, the reader can use the table of contents to place a particular topic in context—for example, to identify a component as one of several within an aggregate. Second, the accounts and tables throughout the volume have numerical entries so that the reader can sum to an aggregate, trace the interrelationships and carry out other operations that reinforce understanding. These data, and the references to them in the text, are purely illustrative and do not correspond to actual data in any country. Finally, the list of acronyms and abbreviations and the index are especially useful in a technical publication of this size.

List of abbreviations and acronyms