National Accounts Relationships to Other Source Statistics

The compilation of national accounts relay on a large set of statistical sources; agricultural statistics, fishery statistics, mining and manufacturing statistics, transport and communication statistics, financial or banking statistics, health and education statistics, trade statistics, trade margin surveys (every fifth or tenth year rather then annually), household surveys, investment surveys, producer and consumer price indices etc., in addition to BOP and GFS (or governmental/administrative records).

The use of statistical sources differ substantially between countries, due to availability, to organization of the economic activity (e.g., are health and education part of government services or provided by market producers?, is it a well organized financial sector in the country, or is it moneylenders on each street-corner?), and to the magnitude of the different industries in the economy. Thus, it is not possible to give a comprehensive description of the sources, but below is a table covering some of the most common sources.

Overview of the main sources used in compilation of national accounts statistics;

Source	Used to....	Other comments
Agricultural Statistics	Agricultural statistics are used to estimate the production value in the agriculture industry. The statistics might either be based on volume or value, or actually include both volume and average prices. The statistics might include information on expenditure which can be used to estimate intermediate consumption and gross fixed capital formation.	Own account production of agricultural products are in most countries not included in the statistics, and separate estimates must be made.
Fishery Statistics	Fishery statistics are used to estimate the production value in the fishing industry. The statistics might either be based on volume or value, or actually include both volume and average prices. The statistics might include information on expenditure which can be used to estimate intermediate consumption and gross fixed capital formation.	Own account “production” of fish are in most countries not included in the statistics, and separate estimates must be made.
Mining and Manufacturing Statistics	Mining and manufacturing statistics are used to estimate the production value in the manufacturing industries. The statistics might either be based on volume or value, or actually include both volume and average prices. The statistics usually include information on expenditure and gross fixed capital formation.	The statistics are usually made on the basis of a complete count of all large establishments (more than 200(?) workers) and on the basis of a survey taken among the smaller ones. Some countries do not use these kind of statistics but relay on a Enterprise Surveys where questions on kind of activity units and establishments are included as well.
Transport and Communication Statistics	Transport and communication statistics are used to estimate production values in the communication industries. Some statistics might be based on volume figures, others on value. It is not common to have a complete statistic on communication services, so for most countries a set of different sources has to be combined.	Statistics on transport and communications are in most cases not a single statistics covering all the establishments that national accounts should cover. Some countries do not use these kind of statistics but relay on a Enterprise Surveys where questions on kind of activity units and establishments are included as well.
Balance of Payments BOP	BOP forms (with some minor changes) the Rest of the World accounts in the SNA. Total imports and exports is usually taken from (or at least consistent) with the imports and exports numbers in the BOP.	Due to harmonization between 93SNA and BOP5, there is only minor changes between BOP statistics and the rest of the world accounts as shown in SNA.
Government Finance Statistics GFS	GFS is the major source used to compile the accounts for the government sector. Total taxes on income and wealth and taxes on production paid by economic agents should add up to total taxes as reported in the GFS, if they are lagged (National accountants usually uses the figures as reported in the GFS but lags it to make up the difference between cash and accrual accounting).	It should be noted that while SNA uses accrual accounting, GFS follows the principle of cash accounting.
International Trade Statistics ITS	Trade statistics are used when compiling supply and use tables. While BOP reports the totals for imports and exports, ITS breaks it down on products (preferably using CPC).	The coverage of import/export is not necessarily the same in BOP and ITS, the totals should then be taken from the BOP. ITS do not necessarily cover financial services.
Household Surveys	Data from household surveys can be used to estimate private consumption, although there is a slightly different in coverage. Even if the total for private consumption expenditure is estimated as a residual or by using other sources, the composition of the consumption (which goods and services) can be estimated on the basis of the survey.	Household surveys are conducted in most countries, but only a few countries use them as input into SNA. This is due to the fact that the majority of countries has estimates private consumption as a residual, and the fact that the coverage in the household survey is somewhat different from the coverage of private consumption expenditure in SNA.
Enterprise Surveys	Enterprise surveys are used as source when compiling accounts for the non-financial corporate sector, and the financial sector if included in the survey. In some countries do the enterprise surveys include information on kind of activity units production and expenditure as well as on the institutional units. This information is used to estimate production, intermediate consumption and capital formation in the different industries.	The coverage (and reliability) of these surveys might vary, in some countries will this survey cover more than the non-financial sector as defined in SNA. It should be noted, however, that part of the production in the industries might be part of the household-sector, which is not covered in the enterprise surveys. (E.g., smaller manufacturing establishments, bus and taxi owners, retail traders etc.)
Surveys on Trade Margins	Data on trade margins are essential when preparing use and supply tables, as trade margins are one of several components between basic and purchasers prices. Data on trade margins are also necessary to decide production in the trade industry, but the total might be taken from statistics on wholesale and retail trade.	Surveys on trade margins are usually not conducted annually.
Surveys on Investments	Investment surveys are one of several sources used to calculate fixed capital investment in industries.
Producer PriceIndex PPI	PPI is used to deflate domestic production (sometimes weighted together with an export price index) and to deflate intermediate consumption (sometimes weighted together with an import price index)
Consumer Price Index CPI	CPI is used to deflate households consumption expenditure. CPI is not used deflate total private consumption directly, but the components are used to deflate sub-groups. (The different sub-groups have not identical weights in SNA and CPI.)
Unit Value Indices for Imports / Exports	Unit value indices are in many countries used to deflate export and imports. Unit price indices for import goods can also be used to deflate imports of capital goods, as part of gross fixed capital formation.	Unit price indices are derived by dividing value by quantity for each product group. Unit price indices may reflect changes in quality (which should be measured as a volume change) as well as changes in prices.
PriceIndices for Imports / Exports	A number of countries construct price indices for imports and exports instead of using unit price indices to deflate imports and exports.	Price indices for imports and exports are normally constructed using the Paashe formula.
Labor Force Survey	Information from the Labor Force Survey are often used to extrapolate constant price estimates of production, under the assumption that production at constant prices are growing at the same path as employment. It should be taken into account that real output might grow faster than employment; growth in productivity.	Using employment data to extrapolate output at constant prices, and to derive implicit price indices, are common procedure for the service industries.