Annual non-financial sector accounts, national accounts, 1995-2013

National level.

Annual statistics. The first version for year t is published in March of year t+1, based on the quarterly non-financial sector accounts (qnri), followed by revisions in June, in August/September and December t+1. The final version is published in August/September year t+2.

Eurostat, OECD.

Not relevant

The national accounts (NA) statistics are designed to provide a consistent and comprehensive survey of the overall national economy. The annual national accounts provide a summarised description of the economy as a whole and a detailed description of transactions between different parts of the Norwegian economy, and between Norway and the rest of the world. The national accounts also provide information on capital stocks and employment.

National accounts are used as a tool to compare the economic situation in different countries, and therefore it is important that national accounts in various countries are based on a common template. Staff involved in elaborating national accounts in Statistics Norway participated actively in developing international recommendations and concepts regarding national accounts. The first international standard for national accounts, 1953 System of National Accounts (1953 SNA), was published by UN in 1953.

The first national accounts for Norway based on modern principles were published by Statistics Norway in 1952, and between 1960 and 1970, the national accounts in Norway were developed considerably and adapted to the updated international recommendations in 1968 SNA. In the first decades the published national accounts in Norway did only cover the parts of the national accounts we refer to as the real accounts (or the annual national accounts, see section Production). Non-financial sector accounts, based on modern principles, were first published for the year 1978.

Pursuant to the EEA agreement, Norway is obliged to follow the European recommendations for national accounts in the European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA). The first version of ESA from 1970 based on 1968 SNA, was not obliging for Norway. A revised version of SNA, published by UN, OECD, IMF, EU and the World Bank, 1993 System of National Accounts caused a revision also of ESA (ESA95). This European framework for compilation of national accounts is consistent with 1993 SNA with regard to definitions, classifications and other principles, but focus on the conditions and requirements for data in the European Union. To incorporate the revised recommendations in 1993 SNA and ESA 1995, as well as many new source statistics, the Norwegian NA was subject to an extensive main revision in the 1990th.

Statistics Norway has recently carried out a new main revision published in November 2014, to incorporate updated international recommendations in 2008 SNA and ESA 2010. Changes due to this main revision are described, among else, in the article Main revision 2014. Planned changes in the national accounts statistics.

From the Norwegian national accounts were established and until today, Statistics Norway has carried out 6 main revisions. The previous main revision, published in 2011 is described in the article Revised national accounts figures 1970-2010.

The publication History of national accounts in Norway. From free research to statistics regulated by law provides more information about the history of national accounts in Norway, including main revisions.

In the future main revisions of the national accounts normally will be carried out every five years.

The national accounts are an important tool for macroeconomic analysis, and Statistics Norway's macroeconomic models are based on the national accounts.

Major users of the national accounts are the Ministry of Finance and other ministries, Norges Bank (the Norwegian central bank), research institutes, financial sector analysts, international organisations, the media etc.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 08.00 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.

The annual non-financial sector accounts are fully consistent with other parts of the national accounts statistics, that is the annual national accounts (the real accounts), the quarterly national accounts, and the quarterly non-financial sector accounts. The Norwegian Balance of Payments (BoP) is an integrated system in the Norwegian system of national accounts, and the BoP figures are fully consistent with other NA figures, including the annual non-financial sector accounts.The regional accounts by county, as well as various satellite accounts (environment, tourism, health, non-profit institutions) are all based on the annual NA, so these accounts are therefore also consistent and compatible with the annual non-financial sector accounts. Previous published figures from the regional accounts and various satellite accounts are, however, not revised as a part of main revision of the national accounts, so figures for previous years may not necessarily be compatible with updated national accounts time series.

As mentioned in the chapter "Production: Data sources and sampling", the national accounts are based on various statistical sources. The source statistics may not use the same definitions or groupings as the national accounts. As a result, figures in the source statistics may be adapted or corrected before use in the national accounts. Published figures in the source statistics of certain industries may therefore not correspond to published figures in the national accounts.

Not relevant

Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 (ESA 2010).

The European Parliament and of the council of 21 May 2013 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union (text with EEA relevance).

The coverage of the national accounts is defined by international guidelines in the 2008 System of National Accounts (2008 SNA) published by the UN, the OECD, the IMF, the World Bank, and the Commission of the European Communities, and the European System of National and Regional Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010) published by Eurostat/the EC Commission.

The total national economy and the distinction between the national economy and foreign countries is defined in terms of resident units. A unit is defined as a resident unit of the country when it has a centre of economic interest in the economic territory of the country - i.e. when it is involved in economic activities on this territory for an extended period of time (one year or more).

Two basic types of information are recorded in the national accounts: flows and stocks. Flows refer to actions and effects of events that take place within a given period of time, for example the output of an industry in one year. Stocks refer to positions at a certain point of time, for example the value of capital stock or the number of employed persons.

The national accounts comprise two fundamental statistical units: institutional units and local kind-of-activity units (establishments). Institutional units are economic entities that are capable of owning goods and assets, of incurring liabilities and of engaging in economic activities and transactions with other units in their own right. An institutional unit contains one or more local kind-of-activity units (local KAUs). The local KAUs are classified by type of activity. An activity is characterised by an input of products, a production process and final products. All local KAUs engaged in the same, or similar kind-of-activity constitute an industry.

The national accounts consist of two main sets of tables; the supply and use tables (SUT), also described as the real accounts, and the institutional sector accounts. The real accounts (the annual real accounts are referred to as the annual national accounts when publishing the data) are based on local KAU.

The non-financial sector accounts are based on institutional units. Institutional units are capable of providing a full set of accounts. The non-financial sector accounts therefore describe all economic transactions in the various sectors. The accounts also provide information on the stocks financial and non-financial capital. Financial sector accounts are also based on institutional units. The institutional units are grouped in institutional sectors on the basis of their principal economic functions, behavior and objectives; see Section Definition, Classification.

The non-financial sector accounts are consistent with the real accounts. This description of the national accounts covers the non-financial sector accounts.

The non-financial sector accounts are based on many different statistical sources, mainly statistics from other Divisions in Statistics Norway.

Since the non-financial sector accounts are based on, and reconciliated with, figures from the annual national accounts (the real accounts) all statistical sources used in the real accounts are used indirectly also in the non-financial sector accounts, including figures from the Balance of Payments statistics and Labour accounts.

In addition to this, the calculations of the annual non-financial are also directly based on the statistics general government revenue and expenditures, accounting statistics for financial and to non-financial enterprises, tax statistics, income and deduction statistics and balance of payments statistics.

The national accounts are based on source statistics mainly collected by other divisions in Statistics Norway (see the section above).The source statistics may be adjusted in order to fulfil the requirements of the national accounts, that is the principles and definitions in the 2008 SNA and ESA 2010 (see sections above). For parts of the economy with incomplete statistical coverage, it is necessary to rely on calculations and estimations.

Figures from the annual national accounts, the Balance of Payments statistics, the labour accounts and the most important source statistics are transferred electronically to the calculation system for the non-financial sector accounts. The sector accounts are first compiled separately for each sector of the economy. The final step of the compilation process consists of balancing across sectors, mainly based on assumptions of the quality of the various source statistics.

This figure illustrates the calculation system for the annual non-financial sector accounts.

The calculation system for preliminary annual figures is basically the same as for final annual figures. The main difference is that the available data sources for preliminary figures may be more incomplete and uncertain. Preliminary figures for non-financial enterprises are, for example, based on information for other sectors and additional external sources.

Not relevant

§ 2-6 of the Statistics Act states that data under no circumstances shall be published in such a way that they may be traced back to the supplier.

§2-4 of the Statistics Act contains provisions regarding professional secrecy for the staff as well as other provisions regarding confidentiality and integrity.

Comparable annual non-financial sector accounts are available for all years back to 1978.