Obtaining data and the compilation of a System of National Accounts

Roberto Luís Olinto Ramos

 

The System of National Accounts (SCN) has two basic functions in the production of economic information for a country, a region or even a specific geographic area. The first and most known function is to structure and disseminate macroeconomic information according to a coherent and comprehensive theoretical base. The second one, as important as the first, is to play the hole of a structuring system for a quite wide range of the production of economic information. The objective of this presentation is to discuss how a statistical institute which compiles the SCN should proceed methodologically in order to compile the national accounts of a country working with all available data, analyzing them and producing an economically coherent summary according to specific quality standards. Meanwhile, the institute should include in the process collaborative work in order to integrate other producers of economic statistics and combine the production of economic data and the demands for macroeconomic information.