Transcript Overview of System of National Accounts (SNA) 2008 Revision (1) & updates on 1993 System of National Accounts UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the.

Overview
of
System of National Accounts (SNA)
2008 Revision (1) & updates on
1993 System of National Accounts
UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific
UNSIAP
1
Background


In 2003, the UN statistical commission called for
an update of the SNA 1993
Objectives:


Bring the accounts in line with the new economic
environment, advances in methodological research,
and needs of users
Features:



No fundamental or comprehensive changes to SNA93
Consistency with related manuals such as Balance of
Payments
Involved all parts of SNA
UNSIAP
2
Revision-1 update resources



http://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccoun
t/aeg.asp#aeg5
Work Groups:
Inter-secretariat Working Group on
National Accounts (ISWGNA)


Eurostat, IMF, OECD, UN and World Bank
Advisory expert group (AEG)

Including 20 country experts
UNSIAP
3
Issues identified ..




A list of substantive 44 update issues
Consolidates recommendations
39 clarifications
Two volumes of SNA


Volume 1 - published
Volume 2 – in 2009
UNSIAP
4
list of chapters
UNSIAP
5
list of chapters
UNSIAP
6
Full list of issues
UNSIAP
7
UNSIAP
8
List of issues by groups
UNSIAP
9
List of issues by groups
UNSIAP
10
List of issues by groups
UNSIAP
11
List of issues by groups
UNSIAP
12
List of issues by groups
UNSIAP
13
List of issues by groups
UNSIAP
14
Main recommendations
Pension schemes
 How to include in national accounts..?


Actual amount paid vs. formula based
Unfunded government employer schemes
Recommendation;
 Provide a table showing pension entitlement of
households for all pension schemes
 Irrespective of the application in different
countries of the flexibility for recording
government pension schemes
UNSIAP
15
Main recommendations
Cost of capital service
 Capital services for assets used in market
production are not separately identified in
SNA93
Recommendation:
 A new chapter added explaining the role and
appearance of capital services in the system
 Including in the value of government output a
return to capital on non-financial assets used in
non market production
UNSIAP
16
Main recommendations
Research and Development
 R&D expenditure not recognized as capital
formation in SNA93
Recommendation:
 R&D should be treated as capital formation and
the value should be determined by the economic
benefits it provides.
 Some instances treated as intermediate
consumption (..if no economic benefit to owner)
 May be valued at the sum of costs.
UNSIAP
17
Main recommendations
Military expenditure
 SNA93 distinguishes some military acquisition
(offensive) as intermediate consumption
Recommendation:
 Considering that destructive weapons have
characteristics of investment,
 Treat as capital formation all expenditure by
military which meets the definition of being used
in production over a period of one year,
regardless of the nature of the expenditure or
the purpose intended for it.
UNSIAP
18
Main recommendations
Goods for processing
 Exporting for processing and importing back,
SNA93 recorded full values twice
Recommendation:
 Recording should follow change of ownership
rather than physical movement
 Net figures for processing will be substituted to
gross figures of exports for processing and the
subsequent re-import or vise-versa.
UNSIAP
19
Some examples of other important
recommendations

Employee stock options (shares)


Non-life insurance


guidance provided to permit further harmonization
with international business accounting standards
The calculation of the output is reconsidered to avoid
its volatility
Contracts, leases and licenses

Updated SNA sets out the principles of the
appropriate treatments corresponding to the different
possible arrangements
UNSIAP
20
Some examples of other important
recommendations


Borderline between withdrawal of owner’s
equity and dividends; concept of “super
dividends”
Exceptional payments between
government and public corporations and
quasi-corporations: the treatment has
been redefined
UNSIAP
21