1. OECD Working Party on National Accounts
The SNA Update:
Progress Report
OECD Working Party on National Accounts
October 10-12, 2006
Carol S. Caron Project Manager

2. A year ago
Pace of work on the 44 agreed issues was picking up; some important issues were on the next AEG meeting’s agenda
Website was promoting country involvement
Editor and ISWGNA had begun more detailed thinking about the Rev. 1 volume
What, if anything, could be omitted?
How should new material would be incorporated?

3. A lot has happened since!
Issues
Papers
Leases
Contracts
Licenses
Full Set of
Provisional
Recommendations
Toward
Rev.1

4. Plan of the presentation
Milestones
Frankfurt AEG meeting
Statistical Commission
Full Set of Provisional Recommendations (FSPR)
Follow up on individual issues
Draft chapters posted for comment
Next steps

5. Reminder: the Framework
The Statistical Commission set the framework
Work programme: research, consultation, governance, etc.
List of 44 issues to be considered
Timetable for Commission’s consideration:
Consolidated Set of Recommendations in March 2007
Full set of chapters for Rev. 1 in March 2008

6. Frankfurt AEG meeting
Fourth, and last, of the issues-oriented AEG meetings
Reached agreement on recommendations for most issues, but some work needed mainly on…
Leases and licenses
Pension schemes
Opened discussion of consistency

7. Statistical Commission, 2006
Focus was on process:
Commended progress on issues
Attributed progress to project management approach and use of the project website
On substance,
Welcomed chapter on informal sector
Noted concerns about unfunded government pension schemes and need for consultation, but positive outlook
Accepted ISWGNA offer to prepare a programme of implementation

8. FSPR Brought together all recommendations Circulated in late April
Called for in the work programme
Serves as a basis to examine the consistency and overall robustness of the recommendations
Circulated in late April
On web at
Countries invited to comment by mid September
Discussion at several meetings

9. Follow up on individual issues
Pension schemes: work toward solution, especially in Europe
Leases and licenses: AEG e-discussion
Classifications of financial assets and sectoring of financial corporations: world wide questionnaire
All to be covered later on this morning’s agenda

10. … individual issues (cont’d)
Guarantees: AEG e-discussion of treatment of standardized guarantees due to close this week
Freely available R&D: may come up in tomorrow’s agenda

11. … individual issues (cont’d)
“Consistency issues” posted on web site: “we are getting there”
Market/non-market distinction
Subsectoring of NPIs
Annuities
Property income
Decision tree to guide sectoring

12. Draft chapters Background
Rev. 1 is to go to the Statistical Commission in 2008, so…
draft Rev. 1 on basis of the FSPR to meet timetable
comment period is provided before 2008
Organization of drafting and review phase
Divide chapters into two roughly equal tranches
Proceed sequentially: draft, review, and AEG meeting for each tranche

13. Draft chapters (cont’d)
Volume is a balancing act: keeping the familiar structure while integrating new material
Numbering retained through the sequence-of-accounts chapters--that is, through chapter 13
Recommended changes incorporated as they come up
Major blocks of new material to be pulled together in separate chapters
Leads to 27 chapters

14. Draft chapters (cont’d)
Chapter list
1. Introduction
2. Overview
3. Flows, stocks, and accounting rules
4. Institutional units and sectors
5. Establishments and industries
6-13: Accounts
14. Summarising and presenting the accounts
15. Supply and use and …
16. Prices and volume measures
17. Role of capital services…
18 Cross-cutting and other special issues
19. Measuring corporate activity
20. Government and public sectors
21. NPIs
22. Households
23. Informal sector
24. ROW account
25. Link to financial and monetary statistics
26. Population and labour inputs
27. Satellite accounts and other extensions

15. Draft chapters (cont’d)
First chapters ready for comment were posted last week in a Progress Monitor at
Chapters ready
9: Use of Income
14: Summarising and presenting the accounts
Progress monitor is comprehensive tool for tracking the drafting and review stage
Issue-by-chapter matrix
Colors for chapter column change to show progress

17. Draft chapters (cont’d)
AEG, NSOs, central banks, and experts invited to comment on the draft chapters
Comment period is 60 days from the time of posting
Template for commenting is on the web
Template is flexible but structured
Comments go to UNSD
Comments will be assembled and used to frame the AEG meeting and revise drafts

18. Next steps
Where we are: meetings, letters from central banks and NSOs, and consultations with those working on other manuals shows…
Wide agreement on most recommendations
Reason to proceed with special care on a few:
Pension schemes
R&D
Capital services, especially on own assets of nonmarket producers
Military expenditures
Goods for processing

19. Next steps (cont’d)
Recommendations: ISWGNA is in the midst of a process to consider comments and reach agreement on what to bring forward to the Statistical Commission
This will lead to a Consolidated Set of Recommendations
Report of the ISWGNA to the Statistical Commission

20. Next steps (cont’d) Chapters: Editor to continue on first tranche
Next batch
Capital account
Financial account
Other changes in assets account
Balance sheet
The link to monetary and financial statistics
Role of capital services in the accounts
Then production, primary distribution, secondary distribution
And supply and use, price and volume, cross-cutting

21. Next steps (cont’d)
Implementation: ISWGNA committed to presenting a strategy in March 2008
Canvassing now to learn from experiences after the 1993 SNA
OECD’s survey on countries’ plans is useful input
Other issues that come up: keep focused on the 44 and build the long-term research agenda

22. In conclusion The consultative process has served us well so far:
We know a lot about countries’ views—probably more than ever before on such an international venture
We should strive to continue to make it work
No one ever said that the Update would be “a piece of cake,” so let us get on with it

23. Contact:: ccarson@imf.org
Thank you
Contact::