News 28 Feb 2019

National Accounts will be reviewed: publishing becomes faster and more consistent

Statistics Finland is speeding up the publishing of annual national accounts. From this year onwards, preliminary annual data are already updated in connection with quarterly data.

The first accelerated preliminary annual statistics will be released on 20 June 2019, while preliminary annual data have earlier been published in July.

The review changes the detail levels of preliminary annual data. This is visible for industries, transactions of sector accounts, investments, consumption, wages and salaries, and employment data. “The data content of preliminary annual statistics is at a less detailed level than later released data, because there are not yet the required source data for calculating more detailed data,” says Senior Adviser Tuomas Rothovius.

In the review, the release and updating schedules of national accounts and balance of payments are also harmonised.

“With the review we respond to users’ wishes. The change guarantees that users will get higher quality and more consistent data on different sections of national accounts,” says Mr Rothovius.

In connection with the review, the structure of free StatFin database tables of national accounts is made clearer and the classifications of the tables are harmonised. In future, it is easier than before to select data on entities describing the national economy.

Further information: Senior Adviser Tuomas Rothovius tel. +358 29 551 3360, Senior Statistician Mirjami Rajala tel. +358 29 551 3540

National accounts pages