1. The 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA) retains the basic theoretical framework of its predecessor. It contains clarifications and justifications of the concepts presented. It more fully integrates production, income, capital and financial accounts and balance sheets. It describes in detail the link between SNA and the related statistical systems such as the Balance of Payments Manual prepared by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It embodies two elements of flexibility: the first concerns the flexible use of classifications, which is based on the hierarchical structure of classification of transactors, transactions and assets, and the second concerns extension of the System to the so-called satellite accounts that use product and income concepts that are alternative to those of the central framework. In addition to the changes in general features, there are specific changes in production boundary, valuation and treatment of product taxes, distinction between market and other kinds of production, extension and further specification of the concept of assets, capital formation and consumption of fixed capital, and treatment and definition of financial instruments and of assets. In terms of presentation, the framework revises the accounting structure of the 1968 SNA and introduces new balancing items. It recommends presentation of the full sequence of accounts for all the different institutional sectors.

2. The sequence of accounts of the 1993 SNA has added two accounts namely (a) the other changes in volume of assets account and (b) the revaluation account. The 1993 SNA includes production accounts for all institutional sectors in addition to the production account for establishments and industries in the 1968 SNA. It has introduced a new concept of mixed income to denote the operating surplus of unincorporated enterprises owned by households. It adds another new concept called balance of primary income, which is the sector equivalent of national income. It introduces the concepts of actual final consumption of households and government, and of adjusted disposable income. For the household sector, actual final consumption is equal to their own final consumption expenditure plus individual consumption expenditure of the general government and the non-profit institutions serving households (NPI) (i.e., expenditure that can be identified as benefitting households). Such additional expenditures by government and NPIs are termed social transfers in kind and are added to disposable income to derive the adjusted disposable income of households. In capital formation a new category "acquisitions less disposals of valuables" has been created. This category was previously treated in different ways for different sectors, for example, as final consumption in the case of households. The 1993 SNA incorporates explicit guidelines for exchange rate conversion. In the case of multiple exchange rates that are the result of official exchange rate policies, the net proceeds resulting from multiple rates are treated as implicit taxes or subsidies. The 1993 SNA also introduces a new concept of real national disposable income into the System. It incorporates the calculation of trading gains and losses from changes in the terms of trade, which are added to GDP at constant price to derive real gross domestic income.

3. The 1993 System, like the 1968 SNA, provides a statistical framework which is designed to provide international guidance to national statistical authorities which wish to improve, elaborate and extend their national accounts and their system of basic statistics. Thus as in the earlier versions of the SNA, the scope and pace of 1993 SNA implementation depends on the needs and capabilities of national authorities. As the 1993 System includes changes to certain concepts, definitions and classifications, and extension of the framework, national authorities are obliged, in the interest of international comparability, to adopt the updated concepts, definitions and classifications of the system, albeit at their own pace. The extended accounting framework offers guidance in compiling relevant accounts to facilitate analysis of specialized interests.

4. Following the publication of the 1993 System of National Accounts and its release in early 1994, the secretariat organized two subregional seminars with funds provided by the Asian Development Bank. The Pacific Subregional Seminar, hosted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, was held at Canberra from 5 to 16 September 1994, while the Asian Subregional Seminar was organized at Bangkok from 20 to 30 September. The twin objectives of the seminars were to brief national accounts statisticians on the salient features of the 1993 SNA and to discuss programmes to assist countries in the region in its implementation.

5. At the Seminars, participating countries expressed enthusiasm about seeing the 1993 SNA implemented as soon as possible. At the same time it was realized that the developing countries would require assistance in understanding not only the conceptual aspects of the System but also the type of data needed to meet the requirements. It was emphasized at the seminars that implementation may be a long process and would have to be undertaken in phases by countries at different stages of statistical development.

6. Following considerable discussion in the seminars a consensus was reached that, in general, activities should be organized for groups of countries which were at similar levels of statistical development in terms of data availability and technical capabilities in national accounts compilation. Nevertheless, it was acknowledged that the grouping together of countries of different capabilities allowed the experiences of some countries to be shared by others, and that both these aspects should be kept in mind while classifying the countries into various groups. It was also felt that a series of workshops for different groupings of countries would need to be organized; each workshop would cover a number of topics. The workshops would consider conceptual as well as practical implementation issues such as data availability, additional data collection, and the time-frame for those activities.

7. Bearing in mind the dual criteria noted in paragraph 6, developing countries in the region can be broadly categorized into the following groups, for which activities relating to the implementation of the 1993 SNA may be organized:

1. Central Asian republics and Mongolia;
2. Other countries in transition from centrally planned to market economies and Myanmar;
3. ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong and Macau;
4. Countries in the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) subregion, Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran;
5. Pacific island developing countries which are compiling national accounts on a regular basis, and Maldives;
6. Other Pacific island developing countries.

8. It was suggested that workshops should be organized separately for the above groups of countries. Developed countries would be invited to participate as appropriate. The Committee on Statistics endorsed these suggestions at its ninth session held at Bangkok from 28 November to 2 December 1994.

9. The Statistical Commission at its twenty-eighth session in February 1995 requested the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on National Accounts (ISWGNA) to define implementation milestones on the basis of which SNA implementation could be assessed and future progress monitored over time. It also requested the Regional Commissions, as focal points for promoting and monitoring SNA implementation in their regions, to analyse the present status of national accounts and the plans of individual countries to implement the SNA. Accordingly the secretariat circulated a check list format designed by the United Nations Statistical Division, requesting countries in the region to report on their implementation plans and the type of technical support they would require. Some 23 replies were received, which provided information in varying detail.

10. The ISWGNA has developed a set of criteria which could be termed "implementation milestones" for the 1993 SNA. It has identified six phases of implementation, as shown in Table 1 that follows. The phases have been identified in terms of whether the accounts and tables covered in each are of the most immediate and general use for policy-makers, or serve more specialized interests. The term 'milestone' is somewhat of a misnomer since it is not necessary to proceed sequentially through sucessive phases to arrive at any point in the implementation process. Table 1 also shows the main complementary data systems to the SNA, and suggestions for SNA-related data and developments (see paragraph 15).

Table 1. Implementation milestones for the 1993 SNA

11. Table 2 provides the summary responses from 23 countries in the region on the status of implementation of the 1993 SNA based on a check list of which elements of the national accounts were currently being compiled. Though the list does not provide a clear indication of the status of national accounts compilation, it could be discerned that the majority of countries that responded are at the phase I milestone. The check list does not indicate quality aspects such as the coverage of the accounts and the preparation of estimates at constant prices. Table 3 shows when the countries plan to introduce new elements in the national accounts based on the 1993 SNA. Many countries did not respond, indicating either that the questionnaire was not clearly defined or that they had no specific plans. Indeed some countries did indicate that their implementation plans had not yet been decided.

Table 2. Check list for implementation of the 1993 SNA - Current Status (23 responses from the ESCAP region)

Table 3 Check list for implementation of the 1993 SNA - Future Plans
(23 responses from the ESCAP region)

12. Some twenty replies were received in respect of Table 4 which shows the number of countries indicating a need for international and regional technical support by subject-matter areas and type of support, and the urgency of that need. In addition to the subject-matter areas listed, interest in assistance was expressed for subjects such as regional accounts, social accounting matrices, environmental accounts, flow of funds, and quarterly accounts. In terms of type of support, the majority of countries indicated that handbooks and manuals are urgently needed. Training courses and seminars or workshops and technical assistance are also required for all the subjects listed.

Table 4. Need for international and regional technical support

* GEN = needed, urgency not specified
(1) = urgently needed
(2) = less urgently needed
(3) = can be postponed