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statistikk
2011-02-21T10:00:00.000Z
Public sector
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Local government, revenue and expenditure by type, 2010

Content

About the statistics

Definitions

Name and topic

Name: Local government, revenue and expenditure by type
Topic: Public sector

Responsible division

Division for Public Finance

Definitions of the main concepts and variables

Total revenue: The sum of current revenue and capital revenue (large extraordinary income). Total revenue is to a certain degree the net amount since administrative fees and charges, disposals of fixed capital and disposals of property, according to the National Accounts guidelines, are not included.

Total expenditure: The sum of current expenditure and capital expenditure (fixed capital formation and transfers linked to real or financial investments by the recipient). Total expenditure is to a certain degree a net amount since administrative fees and charges, disposals of fixed capital and disposals of property, according to the National Accounts guidelines, are not included.

Saving: Current revenue minus current expenditure.

Net lending/borrowing: Total revenue minus total expenditure, or saving plus capital revenue minus capital expenditure. Often referred to as the general government's surplus or deficit according to the National Accounts definitions. Used e.g. when comparisons are made with the EU countries (one of the so-called "Maastricht criteria").

Standard classifications

National economic type: Revenues and expenditures are classified in main groups according to type. This classification is based on whether or not the transaction is related to operating or investments, if it occurs repeatedly or once, if goods or services are offered in return or not, and on what kind of national economic function the individual transaction has. The division by type is based on the National Accounts' chart of accounts, which again is based on international standards.

Administrative information

Regional level

National level only

Frequency and timeliness

Annual and quarterly, about 45 days after the end of the reference period

International reporting

Local government revenue and expenditure is included in the transmission of annual and quarterly non-financial accounts for general government to Eurostat.

Microdata

The micro data are stored in the SAS and the Oracle databases, and disseminated data are stored in the FAME database.

Background

Background and purpose

The purpose is to offer comparable time series over a long period of time for local government revenues and expenditures based on the international guidelines for National Accounts.

Users and applications

The statistics are input to the National Accounts. Other important users are the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities, the Central Bank of Norway, research institutes and mass media.

Access to figures before data is released

In connection with the work on the data basis for the consultation meetings between the State and the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities, members of the Statistical Reports Committee for county and municipal government finance can, in special cases, be given access to preliminary figures before they are officially released by Statistics Norway.

Coherence with other statistics

The statistics are mainly based on international standards for National Accounts: System of National Accounts (the UN etc.) and European System of Accounts (the EU).

In principle the statistics are incorporated directly into the National Accounts. The general government's revenues and expenditures can be found in various tables for the central and local government in the institutional accounts of the National Accounts.

Legal authority

Regulation no. 1425 of 15 December 2000 regarding reporting of accounts from municipalities and county municipalities

EEA reference

Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 and Regulation (EC) No 1221/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council

Production

Population

The population for the annual statistics comprises all municipal and county municipal administrative bodies, church accounts, public corporations owned by municipals and county autorities, limited according to the National Accounts regulations for general government. The quarterly figures comprises of municipals and county authorities.

Data sources and sampling

Accounts for all units in the population. See 3.1.

Final figures are based on total counting. When preliminary figures are published accounts are usually missing for a number of municipalities. See 3.6.

Collection of data, editing and estimations

Accounts are collected electronically.

All accounts are controlled electronically by municipalities and county municipalities before transmission to Statistics Norway. Accounts are also controlled by Statistics Norway. Local government taxes and transfers are evaluated against data in the tax accounts statistics and the central government fiscal account.

Until accounts for the whole population is available, figures are estimated based on accounts from municipalities that have reported data to Statistics Norway. This means that the development of the accounts that have not been reported are assumed to be similar to those reported.

Confidentiality

Not relevant

Comparability over time and space

One tries to avoid great breaks in the time series by preferably carrying out any large changes in connection with retroactive revisions. Breaks in the time series occur relatively seldom for the municipal accounts, since the chart of accounts is established by the Local Government Act. However the transfer to the KOSTRA chart of accounts leads to break in the series from 2000 to 2001.

Accuracy and reliability

Sources of error and uncertainty

Municipalities and county municipalities record accounts in accordance with existing laws and regulations, but the degree of accuracy can vary. Mistakes can also be made when converting the municipal accounts to the National Accounts.

Non-respondents are to some degree a problem when preliminary figures are published. See 3.3 - 3.6. However, when final figures are published, the coverage is normally complete.

Not relevant.

For some revenue and expenditure items the specifications are not good enough to satisfy the international requirements of detailing level. An additional problem is that the chart of accounts is not always well enough adhered to.