System of National Accounts
Contents
Definition
The System of National Accounts (SNA) is the internationally agreed standard set of recommendations on how to compile measures of economic activity in accordance with strict accounting conventions based on economic principles. [1]
An international set of guidelines for a system of economic accounts. The SNA organizes information about the flows and stocks that represent an economy within a comprehensive, integrated framework. The 1993 SNA was published by the Inter-Secretariat Working Group for the National Accounts (Commission for the European Communities, International Monetary Fund, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations, and World Bank). The next update of the SNA is scheduled for 2008.[2]
Overview
The accounting framework of the SNA allows economic data to be compiled and presented in a format that is designed for purposes of economic analysis, decision-taking and policymaking.
The accounts themselves present in a condensed way a great mass of detailed information, organized according to economic principles and perceptions, about the working of an economy.
They provide a comprehensive and detailed record of the complex economic activities taking place within an economy and of the interaction between the different economic agents, and groups of agents, that takes place on markets or elsewhere.
The values of goods and services as recorded in the System of National Accounts bear a volume dimension and a price dimension.
Usage
An integral element of the SNA system are the Supply And Use Tables.
References
- European system of accounts (ESA 2010)
