Renewal of national accounts and balance of payments 2019-2020
National accounts renew their industry and sector-specific data sets. In future, preliminary annual data are released in connection with quarterly statistics. The change ensures uniformity between the various sub-areas of national accounts.
The revision is based on the wishes of users. In addition, the transfer of balance of payments statistics from the Bank of Finland to Statistics Finland in 2014 created a need to unify the publication times of national accounts and balance of payments and improve convergence between the statistics.
What changes in publication times?
The release schedule for national accounts changes in terms of annual data, while the publication times for monthly and quarterly national accounts and balance of payments releases remain unchanged. The release dates of annual data in January and July will be abolished.
The annual releases will be scheduled based on the European harmonised revision policy in March, June, September and December when quarterly data are published. Preliminary annual data are revised in connection with each quarter.
What changes in the data content?
The data content of national accounts preliminary annual data is less detailed than for the data that used to be released in July. Both quarterly and annual sources are used in the calculation. This affects, for example, the accuracy levels of the sub-areas industry, investments, consumption, as well as wages and employment.
The focus of national accounts has been shifted to quarterly national accounts, where we have tried to improve the data basis especially in terms of investments. The calculation method for value added in quarterly national accounts has also been revised by utilising the volume data of Statistics Finland's volume index of industrial output and the statistics on turnover in service industries more extensively. In addition, a more extensive division of data into the public and private economy has been made in the data of the quarterly national accounts.
Changes in the calculation methods of quarterly national accounts
Annual sources have been used for sub-areas where preliminary annual data are available. Annual sources have been used, for example, in the calculation of the public sector and the non-financial corporations sector, whose share considerably affects the value added.
What changes in StatFin tables?
The classifications in the StatFin tables of national accounts are harmonised to facilitate combining of various tables. In addition, tables have been renamed to better correspond with the content of the tables.
We have created the page Structural changes to National Accounts’ StatFin tables for users in Statistics Finland’s web service, where you can test the content of the renewed tables and how well they suit your selection needs. Tables will be uploaded to the page gradually during 2019 and 2020. You can also use the page to check which of the old tables have been combined. The change is considerable in the annual tables of National Accounts that will amount to ten tables instead of the current twenty.
Further information:
Head of Development Tuomas Rothovius tel. +358 29 551 3360, kansantalous@stat.fi
Senior statistician Mirjami Rajala tel. +358 29 551 2540, kansantalous@stat.fi
Last updated 30 Jun 2020