United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
African Centre for
Statistics
Session 3 - Technical Doc: Guidebook on Use of
Administrative Data in National Accounts
Xiaoning Gong
Chief, Economic Statistics and National Accounts Section
African Centre for AGNA Meeting on SNA
12-15 May 2015 UNCC
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Outline of the Presentation
• Background
- Purpose for compiling the Guidebook
- Activities that have been organized for the Guidebook
• Current status of the Guidebook
- Numbers of chapters and their contents
- Size of the Guidebook
• Salient features of the Guidebook
- Country case studies and their experiences
- What the contributions of the Guidebook
• Lessons learned and good experience of the Guidebook
African Centre for
Statistics
Background: Why Admin Data?
• Identified by AGNA as a priority area
o 14 activities consolidated by AGNA for Phase I: Activity 2.1.2.:
Develop a guidebook on processing data from administrative
sources in national accounts
• Administrative sources constitute a key component in national
accounts compilation in most countries.
• Advantages of administrative data
o Reduced costs; Better coverage; Improved timeliness;
Reduced response burden; generally available, and can be
efficiently used to improve the national accounts and
implement 2008 SNA.
African Centre for
Statistics
Background: Activities as in PIP (1)
Outputs / Tasks description
Implementation timeframe
J F M A M J J A S O N D J
4. Compiling Technical Documents
Activity 4.1: Make an inventory of
administrative data sources required
for national accounts compilation.
Status
Done
Activity 4.1.1 Conduct survey through X X
Questionnaires
Done
Activity 4.1.2 Discussion and exchange
through email and website
Done
Activity 4.2: Develop a guidebook on
processing data from administrative
sources in national accounts.
X X X X X X X X X X X
Done
African Centre for
Statistics
Background: Activities as in PIP (2)
Outputs / Tasks description
Activity 4.2.1 Prepare Outline of the
Guidebook
Activity 4.2.2 Contribute country
practice and experience to the
Guidebook
Activity 4.2.3 Prepare for First draft of
the Guidebook
Activity 4.2.4 EGM on the first draft of
the Guidebook
Activity 4.2.5 Prepare for Second draft
of the Guidebook
Activity 4.2.6 Circulate and review on
the second draft of the Guidebook
Implementation timeframe
Status
J F M A M J J A S O N D J
X
Done
X X X X X X X X X X X
Done
X X X
Done
X
Done
X X X X X X
Done
X
June 15
African Centre for
Statistics
Current status of the Guidebook:
Structure and Size
• Structure:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: government accounts
Chapter 3: financial Corps
Chapter 4: non-financial Corps
Chapter 5: use of external trade statistics for national accounts
Chapter 6: use of tax data in national accounts (e.g. value
added tax and income tax)
• Size: there are more than 300 pages
African Centre for
Statistics
Contributing Countries
1.
Chapter
Introduction
Case studies
2.
Government
3.
Financial
4.
6.
7.
Non-financial
Balance of payments
Tax data
Zimbabwe-VAT
Cape Verde
Niger
Mauritius
South Africa
Botswana
Mozambique
Niger
Burundi
Senegal
Niger
Egypt
Mozambique
Box item
Seychelles
Senegal-construction
Senegal – focal points
Madagascar (box item)
Tunisia-FISIM
Burkina Faso
Tunisia
Tunisia
African Centre for
Statistics
Salient features
• To bring together African country experiences and
practices on use of administrative data in the
compilation of national accounts.
• Practical guidebook with practical examples and
“bridge tables” in each chapter.
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Statistics
“Bridge Table”
• “Bridge tables” – to be developed for all administrative
sources, the most important being :
- Financial statements of enterprises ( financial and nonfinancial);
- Budgetary statements of general government institutional
units;
- Balance of payments.
• “Bridge tables” are specific to each country, depending
on the content and availability of data sources.
African Centre for
Statistics
Application of the “bridge table” (1)
• Identification of administrative data sources;
• Analysis of content in respect of national accounting
methodological requirements;
• Collection of data source indicators;
• Translation of each indicator from administrative data sources
into national accounts concepts;
• Application of adjustments to meet national accounting
requirements;
• Estimation of the national accounts indicators.
• Applying adjustments in order to fulfill the SNA conceptual
requirements, when needed.
African Centre for
Statistics
Application of the “bridge table” (2)
For an efficient use of administrative data in national
accounts:
•Understanding the scope, coverage, concepts,
definitions and quality of administrative data;
•Sharing the administrative data, preferably the microdata in electronic form;
•Improving the timeliness and periodicity to match
with national accounts releases;
African Centre for
Statistics
Application of the “bridge table” (3)
• Improving the content and quality of data in line with
the recommended international standards, such as
International Accounting Standards and International
Financial Reporting Standards;
• Giving a feedback to the source data agencies on how
they have used the data in the national accounts and
compiled the economic variables. This will bring the
source data agencies getting involved in the national
accounts compilation and in assessing their contribution
to the national economy.
African Centre for
Statistics
Reference Handbooks and Manuals (1)
• UNECE Handbook of Using Administrative and
Secondary Sources for Official Statistics: A Handbook
of Principles and Practices, 2011
• UN Handbook: Links Between Business Accounting
and National Accounting, Studies in Methods, 2000
• UN Handbook of National Accounting: Financial
Production, Flows and Stocks in the System of National
Accounts, 2013
• Guide méthodologique pour l’élaboration des
comptes nationaux dans les états membre d’Afristat,
Afristat, Serie Méthodes No.4, 2001
African Centre for
Statistics
Reference Handbooks and Manuals (2)
• Eurostat handbook Essential SNA: Building the basics,
2013
• European Commission, IMF, OECD, UN, World Bank
System of National Accounts, 1993 and 2008
• United Nations, European Central Bank: Handbook of
National Accounting: Financial Production, Flows and
Stocks in the System of National Accounts, 2014
• UN Handbook of National Accounting National Accounts:
A Practical Introduction: Studies in Methods, 2003
• OECD, IMF, ILO, CIS Stat (2002) Measuring the NonObserved Economy: A Handbook
African Centre for
Statistics
Reference Handbooks and Manuals (3)
• IMF (2001): Government Finance Statistics Manual
• IMF (2014): Government Finance Statistics Manual
(draft)
• IMF (2009): Balance of Payments and Investment
Position, Sixth Edition;
• United Nations (2010): International Merchandise Trade
Statistics: Concepts and Definitions
• IAS Plus: Summaries of IFRSs and IASs
at http://www.iasplus.com/standard/standard.htm.
African Centre for
Statistics
Lessons learned and good experience of the
Guidebook
• It is another type of capacity building for participating countries
- “Community of Practice”: Active learning and learned from
each other and
- To learn international standards and recommendations
through writing/documenting experience and practice in the
field
• It will be circulated to all the African countries for comments and
inputs
- Sharing the public goods: contributed by countries and used
by countries
African Centre for
Statistics
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
African Centre for
Statistics
Thank you