National Accounts consultations

These National Accounts Manuals are being updated

• 1993 System of National Accounts, 1993 (SNA93)
• Balance of Payments Manual, 5th edition (BPM5)
• Government Finance Statistics, 2001 (GFSM2001)

Why update the manuals?

These are key international standards, which form the basis for providing conceptual guidelines underlining the measurement of economic activity. Since their publication, a number of changes have taken place in the economic environment.

These changes have mainly been due to three factors: the effects of globalisation, the liberalisation of economic activity and, the rapid technological development that the world has witnessed. Implicitly, these have had a profound impact on the nature of the demand for statistical information to analyse the underlying processes, in order to formulate relevant policies.

Therefore, in order to make the guidelines more relevant to the measurement of the economic phenomena, a comprehensive and parallel review of the guidelines was thought necessary.

Who is participating?

The United Nations Statistics Commission and the IMF Board of Directors approved the comprehensive and parallel updating of these manuals, in order to ensure their consistency and achieve greater harmonisation.

National experts in different countries have identified a number of key issues. These issues will form the basis for updating the manuals. UN member countries will be asked to comment on these issues on a rolling basis.

The consultation process

The consultation process will be for a period of two years, to the end of 2006. During this period the Office for National Statistics plans to consult national stakeholders. This page will carry all material for the national consultation process, and will be the means of communication with those willing to participate in it.

All topics for key issues will be listed on this site under the relevant manual. Position papers that introduce an issue will either be attached electronically or provided on request. To generate a wider participation and ensure transparency, all comments will be attached to the website for others to respond to.

ONS has identified a champion for each issue. The champion's key role is to moderate and synthesise all comments and contributions to a particular issue. The final report from the champion will subsequently inform the decision making process at the national level.

After the consultation period, revised manuals will be drafted. Publication of the revised manuals is not expected until the end of 2008.

Register and send us your views

To register your interest and subsequently send us your views, email manuals@ons.gov.uk. To register, please give your name and contact details, and indicate the manual and issue numbers on which you would like to comment on.

Please note:

We cannot guarantee that any comments or views you send us will receive individual feedback or replies. However, we do promise to look at and consider all views we receive.

This page last revised: Tuesday, 7 September 2004