Transcript Joint ECE/Eurostat Meeting on National Accounts

Joint
UNECE/EUROSTAT/OECD
Meeting on National
Accounts
Regional Aspects in the National Accounts
Comments on papers submitted by:
o EUROSTAT
o CISSTAT
o Statistics Netherlands
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
Regional Accounts - Uses
 “Regional accounts are of special
importance when there are important gaps
between the economic and social
development of the various regions of a
country.” SNA 1993, paragraph 19.88.
 Regional accounts: a tool to determine
eligibility for structural funds assistance or
distribution of wealth.
 Quality matters significantly
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
Regional Accounts - Implementation
 Few paragraphs on regional accounts in
SNA 93 while a short chapter in ESA95
 Regional accounts developed following
series of consultation between national
statistical agencies and data availability.
 Regional accounts not necessarily
implemented consistently, affecting
comparability
 Not to mention the issue of data availability
affecting quality
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
Regional Accounts
Concerns affecting quality
 Business registers and local KAU
 Administrative data
 Transparent/common methodologies
 Size, concepts and processes
Personally, I would add:
 Costs
 Response burden
 Link between enterprise and its establishments
 Integration within national accounts framework
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
The Regional Accounts System of
the EU – submitted by EUROSTAT
Key requirements for sound regional accounts
 Statistical business register with local KAU
 Structural business statistics
 Administrative data
 Size
 Quality Reports
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
The Regional Accounts System of
the EU – Questions
 Does EUROSTAT view BR with local KAU and
the necessity to have sufficient industry detail
as a turning point in promoting bottom-up
approach?
 What is the right amount of business statistics?
To what extent administrative data can be
survey substitute?
 Strengths/weaknesses of administrative data.
 Measuring quality without discussing
consistency/coherence of regional and national
accounts, notably adjustments.
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
Regional Accounts in the CIS
Countries - submitted by the CIS Statistical Committee
 Compilation done by regional offices and
finalized by the national office.
 What are the roles of the regional offices
and the national office?
 How easy is it to ensure quality of the
results?
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
Regional Accounts in the CIS
Countries - submitted by the CIS Statistical Committee
 Multiregional units at the regional level
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CISSTAT recommends a bottom-up approach
to obtain information
Suggesting, among others, clear link between
accounting of enterprise and establishments
Is it the case? Response burden?
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
Regional Accounts in the CIS
Countries - Conceptual and practical problems
 Difficulty of achieving full reconciliation
between GDP and the sum of GRP
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Allocating central government bodies,
transport activities, insurance, NPISH,
FISIM, taxes on imports and exports
Large reconciliation item
How to ensure quality of estimates?
Any plan to implement methodologies to
impute for gaps and reconcile GDP and
GRPs?
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
Regional Accounts in the CIS
Countries - Conceptual and practical problems
 GRP by expenditure approach
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Powerful set of data to reconcile
production accounts and income and
expenditure accounts
Supply and disposition
Any plan to estimate final consumption of
residents (by regions) and interregional
flows of goods and services?
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
How to Improve the Quality of
Regional Accounts Estimates
- H. Nijmeijer, Statistics Netherlands
 Allocation of funds on the basis of
regional GDP per capita
 Requires high quality data
 Difficulty to “quantify” quality
 National and regional accounting
 Process tool
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
How to Improve the Quality of
Regional Accounts Estimates
- H. Nijmeijer, Statistics Netherlands
 Measuring quality vs. ensuring processes
are in place to ensure quality results
 Focus is on adjustments
 Need tool in order to make proper
adjustments
 Consistent with Canadian experience
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
How to Improve the Quality of
Regional Accounts Estimates
- H. Nijmeijer, Statistics Netherlands
 Process tables
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Shows source data
Analytical function (ratios)
Documentation
Help find inconsistencies but not resolving
incoherencies
Approach requires focussing on micro data
to produce macroeconomic statistics
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
How to Improve the Quality of
Regional Accounts Estimates
- H. Nijmeijer, Statistics Netherlands
 Future of data warehouse
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Show source data from various sources
and can compare them using common
classification and definitions
Analytical function (ratios)
Help find inconsistency as well as
incoherence
However, type of documention still an
issue
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006
How to Improve the Quality of
Regional Accounts Estimates
- H. Nijmeijer, Statistics Netherlands
 Regional and national accountants
teams?
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Should they be the same people?
Integrating instead of reconciling?
 Documenting is very costly and time
consuming but we never have enough.
What is the minimum to document about
adjustments?
Michel Girard
Statistics Canada
April 2006