A
The accounting system lists all accounting specifications in the national accounts, i.e. the production accounts, consumption accounts etc. The accounting system is based on the international national accounts standards of 2008 SNA and ESA 2010. It provides the framework and contents required for compiling national accounts statistics. It also includes a number of groupings for various aggregates in national accounts.
This is a principle for recording flows in the accounts. Accrual basis means that output is recorded at the time when being created, not when paid by a purchaser, and assets recorded when changes in ownership occur, not when paid. Interests, taxes and excises are recorded in the time period when accrued, regardless whether paid in this period or not. Transactions in national accounts are basically recorded at accruals basis, although in some cases information available is only related to period when paid, and not when change in ownership of assets occur. This is particularly a problem for some taxes. In these cases, the national accounts introduce certain conventions or methods in order to calculate when taxes are accrued.
The institutional sector accounts are built around a sequence of accounts related to various types of economic activities that take place in a given period, together with balance sheets that record stocks of assets and liabilities at the beginning and end of the period. Accumulation accounts are recording the acquisition and disposal of financial and non-financial assets and liabilities, i.e. changes in stocks of assets and liabilities and net worth.
Gross capital formation (including the value of non-produced non-financial assets).
Consumption expenditure in general government that does not provide a mechanism for redistributing resources among individual households, such as general public services, defence, public order and safety, and industry-related affairs.
Disposable income, plus consumption of goods and services received from government units or NPISHs as social transfers in kind.
This adjustment relates to the way transactions between households and pension funds are recorded in the national accounts, i.e. recording net premiums to collective pension and life-insurance arrangements both as current expenditure and as financial investment.
B
The balance of payments, being integrated in the national accounts in Norway, is a statistical statement that systematically summarizes, for a specific time period, the economic transactions of Norway with the rest of the world. The compilation of balance of payments is made in accordance with the recommendations by the IMF’s Balance of Payments Manual, sixth edition(BPM6), and these are harmonized with 2008 SNA. Balance of payments statistics were published on a monthly basis until 2005, while on a quarterly basis from 1st quarter 2005.
The balance of payments consists of three main parts: current accounts, capital accounts and financial accounts. The current accounts gives a statement of Norway's incomes and expenditures versus rest of the world, while the capital accounts contains acquisitions less disposals of patented entities and other intangible non-produced assets, and capital transfers versus rest of the world. The financial accounts records transactions that involve financial assets and liabilities between institutional units in Norway and the rest of the world.
The first part of the current accounts is the external balance of goods and services, which records exports and imports of goods and services, with export surplus as balancing item. The second part is an income account, i.e. the external balance of primary incomes and current transfers, which records property incomes and expenditures like interests, dividends etc., as well as current transfers. By adding the two parts together, the result is the balancing item of the external balance of current account, which may be positive or negative in size.
In the financial accounts, the financial transactions involve purchases and sale of items of assets and liabilities. Total transactions in assets less total transactions in liabilities give transactions net in financial assets, i.e. net lending if plus or net borrowing if minus. By adjusting net lending/net borrowing for revaluations and other changes in volumes, change in net financial assets for Norway is arrived at.
The opening and closing balance sheets display assets on one side and liabilities and net worth on the other at the beginning and end of the period. In principle, assets and liabilities are valued at the actual prices on the date the balance sheets are established. Net worth is the balancing item of a balance sheet, the difference between assets and liabilities.
In annual national accounts, constant-price estimates are calculated in previous year's prices, i.e. t -1 is base year, being changed every year. Subsequently, the constant-price estimates in previous year’s prices are recalculated into a reference year’s prices (see Constant prices)
In quarterly national accounts, the year serving as basis for extrapolations using short-term indicators constitutes the base year. Base year is established when aligned to latest final annual accounts, i.e. t-2 is base year normally in the quarterly estimations.
Value of products in basic prices. Basic price is amount receivable by the producer from the purchaser for a unit of a good or service produced as output minus any tax payable to government, and plus any subsidy receivable from government, on that unit as a consequence of its production or sale. Output is recorded in basic prices in accordance with 2008 SNA and ESA 2010. Intermediate consumption is recorded in purchasers' prices. Value added by industry is recorded in basic prices, as a difference between output in basic prices and intermediate consumption in purchasers' prices.
C
Transfers, in which the ownership of an asset is transferred between sectors or which obliges one or both parties to acquire, or dispose of an asset, i.e. net transfers between sectors that are not considered current transfers. Irrespective of being in cash or in kind, capital transfers should lead to a corresponding change in financial or non-financial assets shown in balance sheets for one or both parts involved in the transaction. Most important among capital transfers are capital taxes and investment grants.
Accounting principle whereby a transaction is recorded at the time the payment occurs.
Expenditure incurred by central government on consumption goods and services. This expenditure is recorded as total costs of production, i.e. intermediate consumption (goods and services that central government disposes for its production purpose), compensation of employees (use of own labour force), consumption of fixed capital (use of own production assets), any other taxes on production, net, while deducting receipts from sales. In addition, expenditures on consumption goods and services purchased from market producers and supplied directly to households, e.g. refunds related to purchases of pharmaceuticals, fees to physicians etc.
Central government final consumption expenditure consists of two main parts, i.e. collective (actual) final consumption of central government, and individual consumption expenditure of central government, which is also part of actual final consumption of households.
= External balance of current account + Revaluations, net + Other changes in volumes, net
= Closing balance of net financial assets for Norway - Opening balance of net financial assets for Norway
Value of entries into inventories less the value of withdrawals and the value of any recurrent losses of goods held in inventories. Work-in-progress is included in changes in inventories, as well as work-in-progress on cultivated assets (single-use plants or livestock, and young fish, for later slaughtering). Building of oil platform modules and building of ships are however not recorded as changes in inventories, but as gross fixed capital formation while the construction project is in progress (at accruals value).
All estimates in the national accounts on changes in volumes and prices are calculated as annual percentage change from last year, or from same quarter previous year. The basis for constant-price estimates is the integrated supply and use tables in current prices. Estimates in constant prices are calculated by deflating estimates in current prices, i.e. dividing by price indices, at a high degree of product detail. By change in volume is meant the change in constant-price estimates from one year to next. Value added in constant prices is derived by use of double deflation, i.e. output and intermediate consumption are deflated separately.
= Wages and salaries + Employers' social contributions
Time series of national accounts estimates should be presented in prices of a certain reference year (transactions measured in constant prices). This is made by establishing links from the value of the reference year using the annual percentage change in volume from one year to next in each case. The change from one year to next is thus the same in the chained time series as in the series being based on previous year as base year. Chaining (establishing links) is carried out both at detailed and aggregated levels. That means chaining destroys additives in the tables, i.e. the components in the table (the detailed estimates) fail to add to aggregates in later periods. Additivity is achieved only when constant-price estimates are in prices of the base year.
Household durables and semi-durables are defined as consumption goods that might be used several times or continuously over a period of one year or longer. Durables include, inter alia, motor vehicles, furniture, cookers, fridges, washing machines, television sets, musical equipment, computer equipment, watches and jewellery. Semi-durables include, inter alia, clothing, footwear, household utensils, equipment for sport and books. Non-durables include food, beverages, tobacco, pharmaceutical products, petrol, cosmetics, newspapers etc.
Decline in the current value of the stocks of fixed capital as a result of physical deterioration, normal obsolescence and normal accidental damage.
Transactions valued at the actual price agreed upon by the transactors.
Current transfers redistribute incomes between the various sectors in the economy. The most important current transfers are transfers within general government, transfers from general government to government business enterprises and to non-profit institutions serving households, and current transfers payable between domestic sectors and rest-of-the world.
All current transfers payable to non-residents on a net basis, excluding primary incomes. This item represents the difference between GNI and gross disposable income for Norway.
D
See reinvested earnings. Desinvestment is used in the national accounts to record former investments to other uses, e.g. business car becoming household consumption.
Direct investment is across-border financial investment made by an investor for the purpose of acquiring a lasting interest in a foreign enterprise, and exerting a degree of influence on that enterprise's operations. An investment by owning 10 per cent or more of the ordinary shares is considered always an direct investment. The establishment of a subsidiary abroad is an example of a direct investment.
= Gross national income - Consumption of fixed capital - Current transfers payable to non-residents, net
= Gross domestic product - Consumption of fixed capital - Primary incomes payable to non-residents, net - Current transfers payable to non-residents, net
= Saving for Norway + Final consumption expenditure
Difference between compensation of employees, mixed income, property income received, social benefits and other incomes on the one side, and current taxes, property income paid and other expenditures on the other side.
Disposable income for Norway adjusted for changes in prices of goods and services for domestic use.
Production activity by which the unit of production is defined as a resident of the country, i.e. when a resident performs economic activities within the economic territory of the country over an extended period (one year or more).
Households in owner-occupied dwellings are considered producing their own dwelling services, which are consumed by them. This is production for own final use in the industry of dwelling services (owner-occupied dwelling services), and also part of final consumption expenditure of households. Dwelling services for owner-occupiers are thus imputed in the national accounts on the basis of actual rents paid for similar dwellings in the rent market. In this respect, also people living in housing co-operatives, owner-tenant flats and joint ownerships are considered owner-occupiers. For households living in rented dwellings, the actual rent constitutes consumption of dwelling services. Dwelling services are in these cases produced by the owner of the dwelling, characteristic output in real estate industry.
E
The economic territory of a country consists of the geographic territory administered by a government within which the persons, goods, and capital circulate freely. The economic territory also includes the airspace, territorial waters, and the continental shelf lying in international waters over which the country enjoys exclusive rights, and furthermore territorial enclaves in the rest of the world in formal political agreement of the government of the country (embassies, consulates, military bases, scientific stations, etc.). The economic territory also covers deposits of oil, natural gas, etc. outside the continental shelf of the country, being extracted by units resident of the territory.
Include employed persons who, by agreement, work for another institutional unit and receive a remuneration recorded as compensation of employees. Owners of corporations (joint-stock companies etc.) if they work in these enterprises, are counted as employees.
European System of National and Regional Accounts.
ESA 2010 is the European standard that relates to the preparation of national accounts in EU/EEA countries, in effect from 2014. ESA 2010 is based on same definitions as 2008 SNA, while presenting the guidelines in an alternative way. Norway is obliged to follow ESA as part of the cooperation within EEA. ESA 2010 replaces the previous version ESA 1995 and is implemented in the Norwegian national accounts from November 2014.
See external balance of goods and services.
Value of goods and services to abroad, i.e. from residents to non-residents.
= External balance of goods and services + External balance of primary incomes and current transfers
= Exports of goods and services - Imports of goods and services
= Incomes receivable from non-residents - Expenditures payable to non-residents
= Compensation of employees from non-residents + Interest receivable from non-residents + Dividends receivable from non-residents + Reinvested earnings receivable from non-residents + Other current transfers receivable from non-residents - Compensation of employees to non-residents - Interest payable to non-residents - Dividends payable to non-residents - Reinvested earnings payable to non-residents - Other current transfers payable to non-residents
F
Payments related to purchases of services rendered by governments paid by households and other institutional sectors, among which payments for children day care, public care for aged and disabled people, sewage and sanitation expenses, etc., or also for payments to financial corporations for financial services charged directly.
= Final consumption expenditure of households + Final consumption expenditure of NPISHs + Central government final consumption expenditure + Local government final consumption expenditure
= Actual final consumption of households + Actual final consumption of general government
First relation defines final consumption expenditure of the institutional sectors. The second definition adds up total actual acquisitions of consumer goods and services by households (irrespective of who is paying) and general government (collective consumption), respectively.
Expenditure incurred by resident households on consumption of goods and services.
Household durables and semi-durables - except expenditure on dwellings and valuables - are recorded as household consumption expenditure in the period they are acquired (purchased). Expenditure on dwellings by households constitutes gross fixed capital formation, while dwelling services (rentals) are recorded annually over the period of service lives of the dwellings as part of the household consumption expenditure. Acquisitions by households of valuables (antiques, art objects etc.) are recorded as gross fixed capital formation.
Expenditure incurred by non-profit institutions serving households on consumption goods and services. These expenditures are equal to output and measured as total production costs, i.e. as the sum of intermediate consumption (goods and services that the NPISHs dispose for their production purposes), compensation of employees (use of own labour), consumption of fixed capital (use of own production capital) and any other taxes on production, net, but less income from sale to other sectors. Final consumption expenditure of NPISHs is by convention all individual and used by households as actual final consumption. Final consumption expenditure of NPISHs is mainly financed through government budgets.
Include final consumption expenditure (of households, non-profit institutions serving households (NPISHs) and general government), gross fixed capital formation, changes in inventories and exports.
Assets/liabilities in the form of monetary gold, SDRs, currency and deposits, securities other than shares, loans, shares and other equity, insurance technical reserves and other accounts receivable/payable. They include also certain derivatives close to financial claims in nature.
The financial corporations sector consists of institutional units which are independent legal entities and market producers, and whose principal activity is the production of financial services. Such institutional units comprise all corporations and quasi-corporations which are principally engaged in financial intermediation or in auxiliary financial activities, i.e. providing financial services.
See FISIM. Financial corporations provide services by charging or by not charging explicitly through specific fees or commissions. These financial institutions may instead have incomes from net receipts of interest, i.e. margin of interest. That means the financial institutions pay lower rates of interest on deposits etc. than the interest charged on loans etc. Since these services are set against administration and use of resources, they are considered as output of these financial institutions and called financial intermediation services indirectly measured. In addition to this imputed output, the financial institutions have also incomes (output) from paid financial services through fees and commissions.
Previous, the national accounts by international convention included these financial intermediation services indirectly measured as output in financial service industries, while not being allocated to uses. The full output value was deducted as a global adjustment to GDP.From December 2006 the output of FISIM has been allocating to the uses involved, as recommended by EU.
These are produced assets used repeatedly, or continuously, in processes of production for more than one year.
They consist of both tangible fixed assets (dwellings, other buildings and structures, transport equipment, other machinery and equipment, cultivated assets like part of livestock and orchards etc.), and intangible fixed assets (mineral exploration, computer software, originals in art etc.).
Inventories and valuables that are not used repeatedly in production are not recorded as fixed assets. The same is the case for tangible and intangible non-produced assets.
Fob ("free on board") is the purchaser's price at the exporter's frontier.
Cif ("cost-insurance-freight") is the price at the importer's frontier, including the costs of transportation and insurance charges between the frontier of the exporter and that of the importer.
In national accounts, the flows of imports of goods are recorded cif and the exports fob. For international reporting, however, total imports are recorded in fob-prices.
Defined as number of persons full-time employed, plus number of persons part-time employed recalculated to full-time equivalent basis. Full-time equivalent persons are a concept of stocks like number of persons. The scope of hours worked of a full-time equivalent person is same as the actual working hours for a full-time equivalent person. Numbers of hours worked per full-time equivalent person could vary between activities and over time.
G
The general government sector consists of institutional units which are non-market producers whose output is intended for individual and collective consumption, and are financed by compulsory payments made by units belonging to other sectors, and institutional units principally engaged in the redistribution of national income and wealth.
General government should not be mistaken for public sector, because the latter concept also is including public non-financial corporations and public financial corporations, in addition to general government.
= Central government final consumption expenditure + Local government final expenditure
= Actual individual consumption in general government + Actual collective consumption
GDP is a measure of the total economic activity taking place on an economic territory which leads to output meeting the final demand of the economy. GDP is measured in market prices, and is defined and measured from three different main approaches (see the three sets of definitions below): for the production approach (I), the expenditure approach (II) and the income approach (III).
(I)
= Output (basic price) - Intermediate consumption (purchaser price) + Taxes on products - Subsidies on products
= Output (producer price) - Intermediate consumption (purchaser price) + Taxes on imports + VAT + Customs duties
= Total value added (basic price) + Taxes on products - Subsidies on products
= Total value added (producer price) + Taxes on imports + VAT + Customs duties
(II)
= Final consumption expenditure + Gross fixed capital formation + Changes in inventories + Exports - Imports
= Final uses - Imports
= Final domestic uses + Exports - Imports
(III)
= Compensation of employees + Operating surplus + Consumption of fixed capital + Taxes on production - Subsidies on production
Value of acquisitions less disposals of new or existing fixed assets. Fixed assets consist of both tangible fixed assets (dwellings, other buildings and structures, other structures, transport equipment, other machinery and equipment, livestock for breeding etc., vineyards, orchards etc.) and intangible fixed assets (mineral exploration including oil and gas, computer software, entertainment, literary or artistic originals, etc.).
GNI is the sum of gross primary incomes receivable by resident institutional units or sectors, (i.e. Norwegians and foreigners that residents in Norway) from domestic production and property income, compensation of employees etc. from abroad, less property income, compensation of employees etc. paid to abroad. GNI equals the sum of gross primary incomes of the sectors. GNI is defined as:
= Gross domestic product (GDP) - Primary incomes payable to non-residents, net
= Gross domestic product (GDP) - Primary incomes payable to non-residents + Primary incomes receivable from non-residents
Annual earnings, full-time equivalents in national accounts is defined as the wage an employee normally will receive during a calendar year if the employee concerned works full-time, has no leave and no over-time. Annual earnings consist of regular basic wage, back pay, holiday allowance addition, bonus and irregular addition related to type of work. Wage in kind, over-time pay and final compensation are not included.
H
The term historical national accounts are used when referring to particular long time series in national accounts. Compatible national accounts figures are available from 1970. There are made long term series for some national accounts figures for years before 1970, however figures before 1970 are not usually revised as part of main revisions of the national accounts and these estimates are therefore not necessarily compatible with estimates for 1970 and later years.
Hours worked by employed persons (employees and self-employed) in domestic production during one year. The hours worked refer to production within effective and normal working hours, with addition for overtime while deducting absences due to sickness, leave of absence, vacations and any labour conflicts.
Hours worked are also influenced by the calendar effect (movable holidays and leap years). Number of working days may vary until three days from one year to next.
= Household final consumption expenditure + Final consumption expenditure of NPISHs + Individual consumption expenditure of central government + Individual consumption expenditure of local government
Individual consumption expenditure is exclusively related to households (i.e. households only acquire individual consumption goods and services).
Expenditure incurred (financed) by resident households on consumption of goods.
Expenditure incurred (financed) by resident households on consumption of services
Household consumption expenditure of services should not be mixed up by household actual individual consumption that also includes consumption of services acquired by the households but financed by other sectors (general government, NPISHs).
The households sector consists of individuals or groups of individuals as consumers and as entrepreneurs producing market goods and non-financial and financial services (market producers) provided that the production of goods and services is not by separate entities treated as quasi-corporations. It also includes individuals or groups of individuals as producers of goods and non-financial services for exclusively own final us.
The principal functions of households are the supply of labour, final consumption and, as entrepreneurs, the production of market goods and services.
The household sector may be divided into sub-sectors on the basis of socio-economic groups, i.e. according to the characteristics of the main income earner of the households.
I
Value of goods and services from abroad, i.e. from non-residents to residents.
Expenditures on government services that are possible to charge individual consumers, inter alia, for education, health, social security and welfare services. Individual consumption expenditure of general government is financed by general government, but actually acquired by households.
Input-output tables are of two kinds: rectangular tables that are compiled in national accounts, and square tables that are derived from the rectangular tables on the basis of certain assumptions related to industry technology or product technology. The rectangular input-output tables are called supply and use tables or commodity flow accounting. These give a statistical picture of total supply and total uses for all goods and services in the economy. The supply table shows how supplies of different kinds of goods and services (products) originate from domestic production of the various industries and from imports. The use table shows how those supplies are allocated to intermediate consumption of the various industries and to final uses (consumption, investments, exports). Square input-output tables show flows from each industry to other industries and to final uses. Alternatively, product by product flows might have been used instead of industry by industry flows that are used in Norway.
The institutional sector accounts record economic transactions of the institutional sectors in national accounts. The economic transactions consist of production, income generation (including property income), redistribution of income, and the use of income for consumption and saving, and capital transfers and net lending.
The institutional sector accounts are prepared on annual basis, and from 2005 also on quarterly basis.
The institutional sectors include the main institutional groupings of the economy, i.e. non-financial corporations, financial corporations, general government, households and non-profit institutions serving households, plus the rest of the world, and also corresponding sub-sectors. This classification of institutional sectors is used particularly for publishing national accounts statistics and balance of payments, while playing also a central role in credit market statistics.
Institutional units are entities that are capable, in their own right, of owing assets, incurring liabilities and engaging in economic activities and in transactions with other entities. An enterprise is an institutional unit defined as the smallest combination of legal units that produces goods or services, and that has decision-making autonomy. In most cases, the enterprise is identical to the legal unit, e.g. a joint-stock company.
An enterprise consists of one or more local KAUs. The local KAUs (establishments) are production units, contributing to the performance of a certain production activity. The activity of production means here a process in which various production factors (inputs like raw materials, assets and labour) interact in producing goods and services. All local KAUs (establishments) that perform same or similar activities, constitute an industry.
Value of the goods and services consumed as inputs in the production process, excluding fixed assets whose consumption is recorded as consumption of fixed capital.
There are more precise definitions in 2008 SNA and ESA 2010 , especially on the borderlines against gross fixed capital formation and compensation of employees. Intermediate consumption refers to goods and services that are used, not purchased goods and services.
K
All local KAUs (establishments) that are occupied in the same or similar activity constitute an activity. The activity classification used in the national accounts is based on the present Norwegian Standard Industrial Classification SN2007, which is an elaboration of the EU-standard NACE Rev.2 (Nomenclature générale des Activités economiques dans les Communautés Européenes). The annual national accounts are compiled at the level of approximately 130 activities. The quarterly national accounts consist of approximately 60 activities. Several levels of aggregation have been introduced in the national accounts for publication and reporting purposes, based on the detailed activity groupings in the annual and quarterly accounts. The most detailed industry level when publishing final annual accounts is Eurostat’s grouping A64, with national adaption.
L
Labour accounts constitute an integrated sub-system (or satellite) in which estimates of employed persons, full-time equivalent persons, hours worked, number of jobs, compensation of employees and wages and salaries for national accounts are compiled.
The sector comprises local and regional institutional units (mainly counties and municipalities) that carry out political responsibilities and produce public services (mainly non-market).
Expenditure incurred by local government on consumption goods and services. This expenditure is recorded as total costs of production, i.e. intermediate consumption (goods and services that local government disposes for its production purpose), compensation of employees (use of own labour force), consumption of fixed capital (use of own production assets), any other taxes on production, net, while deducting receipts from sales. In addition, expenditures on consumption goods and services purchased from market producers and supplied directly to households. Grants paid by local government to private day-care institutions for children are considered social transfers to households since local government finances part of these household services.
Local government final consumption expenditure consists of two main parts, i.e. collective (actual) final consumption of central government, and individual consumption expenditure of central government, which is also part of actual final consumption of households.
M
Main revisions are periodic revisions that in fact are undertaken on ad hoc basis, in most recent times approximately every five years. These revisions are distinguished from recurrent revisions - from provisional estimates into final estimates - in the sense that the "final estimates" are subsequently also revised. Thus, in these revisions the time series are also revised backwards. Consistent revised time series are available back to 1970 for most aggregates in the national accounts. Some time series are carried even further backwards, referred to as historical national accounts.
Main revisions normally introduce new definitions and classifications, based on new international guidelines, i.e. conceptual changes. In addition, new methods of estimation based on new statistical sources are also introduced. When these periodic revisions mainly consist of introducing new statistical sources, they are referred to as non-conceptual main revisions.
Mainland Norway consists of all domestic production activity except exploration of crude oil and natural gas, transport via pipelines and ocean transport. The concept was revised as part of the main revision of the national accounts in 2014. Before this, service activities incidental to oil and gas were also excluded from Mainland Norway.
Market production covers output sold at prices that are economically significant or otherwise disposed of on the market, i.e. receipts exceeding production costs. Non-market production covers output where products are supplied free or at prices that are not economically significant. It covers also output produced for own final use.
The definitions of market and non-market production are clarified on basis of certain criteria. Non-market production includes production in general government (except water supply and sewage and refuse disposal etc. in local government), production in NPISHs and production for own final use. Production for own final use is distinguished, specifying separate industries, such as agriculture, hunting, fishing and owner-occupied dwelling services. Production in general government and production in NPISHs are also broken down by industries.
Gross domestic product (GDP) is measured in market value, defined as total of value added in all industries in basic prices, adding to total taxes on products and subtracting total subsidies on products.
Balancing item of the unincorporated enterprises in the household sector implicitly containing an element corresponding to remuneration for work carried out by the owner or members of his family which cannot be distinguished from his profit as entrepreneur.
N
In national accounts by counties, main aggregates of the final annual national accounts are broken down by counties and regions.
= Gross national income - Consumption of fixed capital
Net worth of the total economy, i.e. the sum of non-financial assets and net financial assets with respect to the rest-of-the world.
= Acquisitions of non-financial assets - Consumption of fixed capital
= Gross fixed capital formation + Changes in inventories + Net acquisitions of valuables
The net resources a country or a sector have available - directly or indirectly - to the rest-of-the world or other sectors. It is the balancing item between saving, net capital transfers and net real investments.
= Gross saving for Norway - Gross real investments - Capital transfers, net
= Saving for Norway - Gross real investments + Consumption of fixed capital - Capital transfers to on-residents + Capital transfers from non-residents
= External balance on current account + Capital transfers from non-residents, net
Produced assets over which institutional units exercise ownership rights, individually or collectively, and from which economic benefits may be derived by their owners by holding them or using them over a period of time. Non-financial assets consist of produced assets: fixed assets, inventories and valuables (antiques, art objects etc.), and non-produced assets: nature capital (tangible non-produced assets) and intangible non-produced assets (patented entities, leases and other transferable contracts, etc.).
The non-financial corporation sector consists of institutional units which are independent legal entities and market producers, and whose principal activity is the production of goods and non-financial services. The non-financial corporations sector also includes non-financial quasi-corporations.
NPISHs consist of non-profit institutions that are separate legal entities, which serve households and which are private non-market producers. Their principal resources are voluntary contributions in cash or in kind from households in their capacity as consumers, from payments made by general government and from property income. NPISHs are producing, inter alia, health services, social welfare services and cultural services, and furthermore consist of membership organization services related to households.
O
Operating surplus in an industry is defined as:
= Value added – Compensation of employees – Other taxes on production + Other subsidies on production – Consumption of fixed capital
In the institutional sector accounts, operating surplus in a sector is defined similarly. For households, a major part of this is called mixed income. In the institutional sector accounts, this is surplus accruing from processes of production before deducting any explicit or implicit interest charges, rents or other property incomes payable on the financial assets, land or other tangible non-produced assets required to carry on the production.
Subsidies - except subsidies on products - that resident producers may receive from general government, as a result of engaging in production, and which are not payable per unit of goods and services. Most important among other subsidies on production are those allied to agriculture.
Taxes - except taxes on products - that resident producers incur, and that are payable to general government, as a result of engaging in production, and which are not payable per unit of goods and services. Most important among other taxes on production are those allied to oil and gas extraction (royalty excise on extraction of petroleum etc).
Value of goods and services from domestic production activities, i.e. from market production, production for own final use, and non-market production in general government and in NPISHs. Output of goods and services is not the same as sale of goods and services. Output is published in basic prices, i.e. subsidies on products are included, but not VAT or other taxes on products (see basic value).
In general government and other non-market production, output is estimated as total of compensation of employees, net taxes on production, consumption of fixed capital and intermediate consumption.
P
Payments to dependents when insured people die (normally when death occurs during service), or payments when work ceases, or in connection with invalidity.
Number of persons employed with resident producers. Persons employed include persons employed part-time, persons in military or civil services as conscripts, and persons temporary on leave due to sickness, vacation, permission etc. Foreign employees (non-residents) engaged in domestic production, of which foreign seamen on Norwegian owned ships or ships rented from abroad are included.
Persons employed are measured as average over a year (or quarter), and are distributed by activities, gender and employees versus self-employed.
Portfolio investment covers transactions in equities, other securities, and financial derivatives, except where these transactions relate to direct investment or reserve assets category. The Government Pension Fund – Global is not part of the reserve assets, though it is owned by the government and administrated by Norges Bank. This is therefore treated as portfolio investment as concerns investment abroad. Most important are shares and other equities, bonds and money market instruments (certificates and Treasury bills).
Incomes that accrue to resident institutional units as a consequence of their involvement in processes of production or ownerships of assets that may be needed for purposes of production. Primary incomes thus include income from production, as well as financial incomes in the form of interests and dividends.
Net transfers to non-residents as income in the form of compensation of employees, interest, dividends etc. (and any taxes on production payable to non-residents), after deducting corresponding incomes receivable from non-residents. In former accounts, the term used was interest, dividends etc. to abroad, net. This item represents the difference between GDP and GNI.
The activity whose value added exceeds that of any other activity carried out within the same unit.
The institutional sector accounts are presented in a sequence of accounts and balancing items reflecting various kinds of economic activities that occur in a given period of time. They also contain balance sheets with stocks of assets and liabilities recorded at the beginning and end of the period. The production and income accounts record the production of goods and services, the generation of income from production, the distribution and redistribution of income among institutional units or sectors, and the use of income for the purposes of consumption or saving.
The production account records the activity of producing goods and services, i.e. all transactions directly related to production. The production account and the income generation account contain value added and operating surplus as balancing items, respectively, also including mixed income in the household sector.
Goods and services that are generated within the production boundary defined for the national accounts. The product classification is based on the EU-specific product classification CPA (Statistical Classification of Products by Activity in the European Community). CPA is a product grouping by activity, i.e. the characteristic or principal products of the activities, as related to the activitiy classification of NACE Rev.2. In the Norwegian national accounts, the annual accounts consist of approximately 700 products (goods and services).
Expenditure that users of a financial asset or a tangible non-produced asset is obliged to pay the owners of financial assets or tangible non-produced assets.
Income receivable by the owner of a financial asset or a tangible non-produced asset in return for providing funds to another institutional unit.
All non-financial corporations and quasi-corporations that are controlled by government units. Include state business enterprises, other state enterprises and municipal corporations.
Q
Quarterly national accounts constitute a system for estimating quarterly and provisional annual figures in national accounts. Quarterly figures are published four times a year, approximately 50 days after end of the quarter. Latest final annual national accounts provide the basis for these calculations in terms of level. In addition, a number of short-term statistics are being utilized. Quarterly national accounts include estimates in both current and constant prices. Seasonally adjusted estimates are also calculated for some of the aggregates in the quarterly national accounts.
Quarterly national accounts estimates are available in time series back to 1978, reconciled with the estimates of final annual accounts.
R
Reinvested earnings are defined as operating surplus of the direct foreign investment enterprise, plus property incomes or current transfers receivable, minus any property incomes or current transfers payable, including actual remittances to foreign direct investors and any current taxes payable on the income, wealth etc. of the direct foreign investment enterprise. Thus, reinvested earnings are the part not distributed and deemed to provide additional capital to the enterprises and to increase the value foreign assets and liabilities. The counterpart item to reinvested earnings is found in the financial account under same item. Retained earnings in a direct investment enterprise, represented by a positive figure for the item direct investment, is in the balance of payments shown as an investment transaction which increases the investor's claims on the investment enterprise. If dividend payments exceed the surplus, reinvested earnings are negative, which may be interpreted as desinvestment.
Reserve assets consist of those external assets that are readily available to and controlled by monetary authorities for direct financing of payment imbalances, for indirectly regulating the magnitude of such imbalances through intervention in exchange markets to affect the currency exchange rate and /or other purposes. In Norway, Norges Bank only has reserve assets. International reserves basically consist of assets only, i.e. any foreign central banks' holdings of assets in Norway (for instance Norwegian securities) are not considered "reserve liabilities", but as portfolio investment in Norway.
This institutional sector includes all non-resident units that that carry out transactions or have financial economic relations with domestic institutional units.
They represent changes in assets and liabilities to and from abroad, which are not transactions (purchases and sale), calculated on the basis of changes in the exchange rates. Taken into account are also international assets of Norges Bank and the Government Pension Fund - Global.
In general in national accounts, revaluations are referring to changes in the value of assets and liabilities due to changes in their prices, i.e. capital gains and capital losses.
S
Social Accounting Matrices (SAM) represent a kind of satellite accounts in which relations are worked out between supply and use tables and institutional sectors, with particular emphasis on households and employment.
Satellite accounts are the term used for a kind of accounts that is based on national accounts concepts and national accounts figures, while however making a special adaptation to emphasize a certain economic phenomenon or area thoroughly, or from another perspective than in the national accounts per se. This might be based on somewhat different concepts, for instance another activity classification, and possibly by supplement of an alternative source basis for part of the accounts. Other definitions than those used in national accounts might also be used. Examples from Norway are satellite accounts for tourism, health expenditures, environment and natural resources, and non-profit institutions satellite accounts.
= Disposable income for Norway - Final consumption expenditure
= Net lending/Net borrowing for Norway + Gross real investments + Capital transfers, net - Consumption of fixed capital
The first definition is the direct and standard definition. The second connects the financial account and the production and income accounts.
= Disposable income - Adjustment for the change in net equity of households on pension funds (the adjustment relevant for the sub-sector life insurance corporations and pension funds)
= Disposable income + Adjustment for the change in net equity of households in pension funds - Household final consumption expenditure
Self-employed persons are persons who are sole owners, or joint owners, of the unincorporated enterprises in which they work. Family workers without remuneration in contract, and working in an enterprise owned by another family member, are recorded as self-employed.
System of National Accounts - International standard for national accounts.
2008 SNA, the present and latest version of this standard, is prepared under the joint responsibility of United Nations, OECD, IMF, World Bank and EU/Eurostat. It replaces the previous version 1993 SNA. 2008 SNA is implemented in the Norwegian national accounts from November 2014.
In the compilation of national accounts, a reconciliation of supply against uses is made at the level of detailed products. From this balancing, the item "changes in inventories and statistical discrepancy" emerges as a residual, of which it is not possible to say what the size of statistical discrepancy is, i.e. discrepancies in data basis.
Tables on value added by activity in the quarterly accounts also include such an item "statistical discrepancy", which is the preliminary difference between total final uses less imports and gross domestic product. In constant prices, this item is zero. In current prices, due to minor inaccurate measurements in prices of the various products, this item will have a value different from zero.
= Subsidies on products + Other subsidies on production
Transfers from general government to domestic producers of subsidies that are payable per unit of a good or service produced. The most important subsidies on products are subsidies on research and development services, on agricultural products and subsidies on private education services.
T
Assets that exist in nature and overwhich ownership rights have been established. Environmental assets overwhich ownership rights have not, or cannot, be enforced, such as open seas or air, are excluded. Tangible non-produced assets include land, subsoil assets (oil and natural gas reserves etc.), non-cultivated biological resources and water resources.
Taxes that are compulsory, unrequited payments, in cash or in kind, made by institutional units (also rest-of-the world) to general government taxes on incomes, profits and capital gains, i.e. assessed on the actual or presumed incomes of individuals, households, NPIs or corporations. They are in two parts: taxes on income and other current taxes.
= Taxes on products + Other taxes on production
Transfers from domestic producers to general government of taxes or excises that are payable per unit of some good or service produced or transacted. The most important taxes on products are the value added tax, excises on motor vehicles, tax on petrol and special taxes on alcoholic beverages.
= Final consumption expenditure + Gross fixed capital formation + Changes in inventories + Exports
= Output (in basic prices) + Taxes on products - Subsidies on products + Imports
= Output (in producers' prices) + Taxes on imported products + Value added tax + Customs duties + Imports
= Final consumption expenditure + Gross fixed capital formation + Changes in inventories + Exports + Intermediate consumption
= Total final uses + Intermediate consumption
= Total domestic uses + Exports
= Total final domestic uses + Intermediate consumption + Exports
Transfers of ownership of a good or asset, other than cash, or the provision of a service, without any counterpart. For general government, transfers in kind represent government final consumption expenditure, including also purchase of goods and services from market producers supplied directly to households.
V
Supply of products is valued in basic prices, while use of products is valued in purchasers' prices. Purchaser's price is the amount actually paid by the purchaser, including any taxes on products less taxes on subsidies, and including any transport costs. Deductible ingoing value added tax is not included in the purchaser's price. Exports of goods are valued fob. Imports of goods are valued cif on detailed flows (for international BoP reporting, total imports of goods are fob).
Values added and gross income generated from domestic production in an industry or sector (or in total for all industries/sectors), derived and defined as output less intermediate consumption. Value added is published in basic prices, i.e. subsidies on products are included, whereas VAT and other taxes on products are not (see basic price).
In general government and other non-market activities, value added is compiled as sum of compensation of employees, net taxes on production (taxes on production less subsidies on production) and consumption of fixed capital.
W
Compensation of employees in respect of work done in domestic production. Wages and salaries are both in cash and in kind. Wages and salaries in cash include pay for overtime, and sickness and maternity allowances paid by employers. Wages and salaries in kind consist of goods and services, or other benefits, provided free or at reduced prices by employers that can be used by employees at their own discretion. Wages and salaries in kind include, inter alia, the services of vehicles, value of the interest forgone by employers when they provide loans to employees at reduced rates of interest, and free transportation for employees in some transport industries.
Wages and salaries subsequently are distributed to households and to rest-of-the world (i.e. for non-residents employed with resident producers, inter alia, foreigners on Norwegian ships).
Ratio between wages and salaries and number of hours worked by employees.
Goods and services that are partially completed, but that are not usually turned over to other units without further processing or that are not mature and whose production process will be continued in a subsequent period by the same producer.
Social benefits are transfers in cash or in kind from general government or NPISHs to households, organized in or outside collective social insurance arrangements. Social benefits include sickness and invalidity allowances, unemployment benefits, retirement pensions etc. Furthermore, imputed social benefits from enterprises are also included (unfunded benefits).