1. Assurance of Quality of German National Accounts by Management
The Organization Structure of German National Accounts
Main Features of the Quality Management in German National Accounts
The Integration of Quality Assurance Procedures into the Workflow

2. 1. Organization Structure of German National Accounts
National and Environmental
Accounts, Labour market
Division A
Domestic Product,
Production and
Expenditure
Division B
National Income,
General Government,
External Economic
Transactions
Division C
Input-Output-
Accounts, National
Wealth Accounts
Division D
Labour market
Division E
Environment-
Economic
Accounting A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 B2 A2 C2 D2 E2 B3 A3 C3 D3 E3 B4 A4 C4 E4 B5 A5 B6 B7
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3. 2. Main Features of the Quality Management in German National Accounts
Detailed time schedule
- Internal delivery dates
- Accounting deadlines
- Balancing deadlines
- Publication dates
Application of internal sources
- Close and mostly longstanding contacts between national accountants
and the employees of specialized statistics
- Discussions held with working parties on special statistics
- No formal service level agreements
- Specialized statistics are subject to quality control
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4. … Main Features of the Quality Management in German National Accounts
Application of external sources
- Data supply based on regulations or on gentlemen's agreements
- Application of released data
- Records of all (internal and external) sources, integrated into the
calculations
- Critical delays are discussed at management level
Special section is responsible for the supervision of internal
deadlines
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5. … Main Features of the Quality Management in German National Accounts
Quality checks during the compilation process
- Constant direct contact between the employees, responsible for
particular accounting areas
- Ad-hoc meetings at the working level
- Source data are checked for plausibility
- Discussions with other subject units/divisions
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6. … Main Features of the Quality Management in German National Accounts
Additional procedures of quality assurance
- Quality checks by means of sector accounts
- Quality check on productivity and cross-sectional checks
of national accounts and employment accounts
- Cross check of GDP-figures found on the production and
expenditure side and the SUT
- Analysis of published figures over time
- Feedback with the central bank
- Feedback with important users of national accounts data
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7. 3. Quality Assurance Procedures integrated into the Workflow
The aim:
Set a more formal framework of quality assurance procedures
Prevent shortcomings in quality already during the compilation process
Implement appropriate corrective actions in order to reduce the impact of errors on the further calculation process
Improve the documentation of quality assurance procedures
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8. … Quality Assurance Procedures integrated into the Workflow
The basic idea:
The compilation of a NA aggregate or a certain component of an aggregate can be subdivided into processing steps:
Collecting of data of all suitable surveys of economic statistics
Data processing
Presentation of the results
Each processing step can be split into processing elements:
Start date – Trigger – Supplier – Input – Execution – Output – Client - End
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9. Example - Description of the Processing Elements
Responsible:
Sub-process:
Process. step:
Compilation of the Rest of the World Account
III B1
Calculation of Exports of Goods (P.61), quarterly data
Collecting of data
Supplier
Start date
Trigger
Input
Execution
Output
Client
End
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
Central Bank (Deutsche Bundesbank)
Time schedule, sent to the central bank
Written request to the central bank, asking for the quarterly transmission of BoP data
Tables with additions and deductions
Data transmission by
Working table as a hardcopy
IIIB1: Processing of exports of goods;
IIIB1: Process.of non-life insurance claims (RoW);
IIIA2: Process. of travel expenses (RoW);
IIIB4: Transfers of General Govn. (RoW);
IIIC4: Process. of services (RoW)
Startdate
+ 0 days
Foreign Trade Statistics of the Federal Statistical Office
Monthly data on special trade at t+42 days
Automatic data supply as soon as the monthly external trade statistics are completed
Data on exports in special trade
IIIB1: Processing of exports of goods
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10. Quality Assurance Procedures related to Processing Elements
Responsible:
Sub-process:
Process. step:
Compilation of the Rest of the World Account
III B1
Calculation of Exports of Goods (P.61), quarterly data
Collecting of data (P = Precaution Measures, C = Corrective Actions)
Supplier
Start date
Trigger
Input
Execution
Output
Client
End
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
P: Fixing a delivery schedule in good time
P: Schedule Review
P: Contacting the supplier by telephone
P: Completeness check of the requested data
P: Plausibility check of the delivered data
P: Completeness check of the working tables
P. Information to the client if a delay is to be expected
C: Request for data transmission in case of a missed deadline
C: Additional demand for missing data
C. Manual correction;
Experts‘ estimates in case of missing data
P: Contacting the supplier by telephone at t+42 days
C: Request for provisional figures
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11. … Quality Assurance Procedures integrated into the Workflow
Splitting a process step into different elements makes it easier
• to identify any needs for preventive actions
• to implement corrective actions
• to document the execution of the processing elements
Θ Implementation of quality assurance procedures integrated into the workflow is demanding and extremely time consuming
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12. Summary
Quality management of German national account has proved to be efficient and reliable
Further improvements of the quality management, in particular a better and more standardized documentation would be useful
Reasonable cost-benefit ratio is absolutely essential
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