The Pension Satellite Account in the
Canadian System of National Accounts
OECD Working Party on Financial Statistics
Allan Tomas
Income and Expenditure Accounts Division
Statistics Canada
December 1, 2010
Outline
 Pension Satellite Account structure and the
Canadian pension system
 Pension Satellite Account usefulness
 Pension Satellite Account results
 SNA implementation issues
 Future developments
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Stock-flow matrix presentation of the pension satellite account
Opening
wealth
position
Inflows:
contributions,
investment
income
Outflows:
withdrawals
Revaluations
and other
volume
changes
Closing
wealth
position
Social
security
Employerbased plans
Individual
registered
saving plans
Total
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Need for a Pension Satellite Account
Usefulness of the Pension Satellite Account: Analysis
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Changes in the pension system
Personal saving and wealth evolution
Forecasting economic outcomes
Projecting tax revenue
Impact on capital markets
Sustainability and adequacy issues
Pension system risk
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Assets of Canada’s pension system, at market value
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Pension Assets in Household Assets
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Pension Assets as a share of Household Financial Assets
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Government unfunded pension liabilities
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Changes to social security strategy result in accumulation of assets
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Contributions, by tier
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Withdrawals, by tier
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Changes to the Social Security Plans
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Contributions Less Withdrawals, by tier
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Investment Income, by tier
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Net Inflows (Contributions + Investment Income – Withdrawals),
by tier
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Revaluations, by tier
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Labour Income, Personal Expenditure and Pension Withdrawals Using the Pension Account as an Analytical Tool
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Using the Pension Account as an Analytical Tool -
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SNA Implementation Issues Regarding Pensions
 Unfunded pension liabilities recognized in the core
accounts COMPLETED
 Output of pension schemes COMPLETED
 Actuarial valuation for employer-based defined benefit
plans and accrual basis for contributions BEING
EVALUATED
 Treatment of social security plans, including actuarial
valuations BEING EVALUATED
 Presentational issues for employer-based plans BEING
EVALUATED
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Future Development of the PSA
 Move to a quarterly frequency
 Possible extensions
• Link to standard supplementary SNA tables on
pensions
• Defined benefit plans
 Micro-macro linkages
 Continue to improve accuracy & detail
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