Dealing with External
Challenges in the Compilation
of National Accounts:
The Dutch Response
Peter van de Ven
Head of National Accounts
Statistics Netherlands
Major External Developments
• Ongoing Budgetary Cutbacks
– 30% since 1999
• Pressure to Decrease Respondent Burden
– 60% in the period 1994-2002
– 25% in the period 2002-2006
– Ongoing Demands
• Growing Availability of Register Data
– Legal obligation (2004): no surveys possible
if register data is available
– Free access to administrations
– Legal possiblities to match data files
Major External Developments
• Globalisation
– Inconsistencies between statistics
– Delineation of national economy
• Growing Mobility of Personnel
• Transparency and Reproducibility
• Growing IT-possibilities
• User Demands
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Focus on short term statistics
Multi-dimensional policy issues
Quickly changing needs for information
Growing administrative use of NA-data
Redesign of Economic Statistics
• Integrated architecture + chain management:
clearly defined ”resting points” in processing of
data, from Business Register to NA
• Production Statistics:
– Mainly driven by administrative registers (VATregister and Register on employment and wages)
=> Note: Observation unit and matching
– Restricted surveying of additional data:
– Very limited annual survey (10-20 questions?)
– Rolling review of input structure (once every 3-5
years?)
– ProdCom
Redesign of Economic Statistics
• Separate processing of large and/or complex
enterprises (250-500 enterprises?)
• Integrated compilation of Structural Business
Statistics (SBS) and Supply and Use Tables
(SUT), based on:
– Before-mentioned data
– Data on government and financial corporations
– Data on imports and final uses
Redesign of NA (General Issues)
• NA: clearly defined set of tasks based on
”resting points”
– Translation to NA-concepts
– Exhaustiveness
– Integration of source data
• Three (more internally oriented) projects:
– Less Detailed SUT: from 260 * 850 => 150 * 500
– Dashboard
– ”Quarter-machine”
Redesign of NA (Dashboard)
• Software system for prioritising
inconsistencies and implausibilities
• Based on predefined set of norms and
standards
• After solving major inconsistencies:
automatic balancing
• Goal: more top-down, less bottom-up; more
efficient processing
• At the moment: iterative process of
implementation
Redesign of NA (Quarter-machine)
• Software system for:
– Benchmarking quarterly data to annual data
– Compiling annual estimates, based on
quarterly NA-data plus newly available source
data
• Use of Denton Techniques
• Relevant for the whole core-system of NA:
SUT, Institutional Sector Accounts (ISA) and
Labour Accounts (LA)
• Complete change in focus, from annual to
quarterly data
Revision policy: now versus future
• Present revision policy:
– T+45 days: flash quarterly economic growth
and employment
– T+90 days: (revised) quarterly estimates for
SUT, ISA and LA
---------------------------------------------------------------------– T+6 months: 1st provisional (autonomous)
annual estimate
– T+18 months: 2nd provisional (autonomous)
annual estimate
– T+30 months: definite (autonomous) annual
estimate
Revision policy: now versus future
• Future revision policy:
– T+45 days: flash quarterly economic growth
and employment
– T+90 days: (revised) quarterly estimates for
SUT, ISA and LA
– T+6 months: 1st annual estimate based on sum
of 4 quarters plus newly available source data
– T+18 months: 2nd annual estimate based on
sum of 4 quarters plus newly available source
data
---------------------------------------------------------------------– T+30 months: definite (autonomous) annual
estimate
Redesign (of NA): main goals
• More efficient system
• Less respondent burden
• More transparent and reproducible system
• Better quality, or at least no loss of quality:
– Consistent recording of large enterprises
– Full exploitation of register data
– More top-down, less bottom-up
• Improved ability to cope with mobility of
personnel
• Note: still a lot of work and problems ahead!
Some concluding remarks
• More international co-operation:
– Exchange of best practices
– Development of software tools for NAcompilation
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