System of national accounts - economic "portrait" of the state

The activity of an economic entity of any level - whether it is a separate firm or a whole state - must be accounted for and displayed in the reporting, which helps to analyze the current state of affairs and make forecasts for the future. However, if in the case of a company reporting is a standard procedure that does not require a lot of labor, then in the case of the state everything is much more difficult - the entire economic life of the country for a year can not be formalized to a standard financial results report. The System of National Accounts was specifically designed to enable all countries of the world to make standardized and easy-to-read reporting that was subsequently used both domestically and externally. About what the SNA consists of and what its features are, we will discuss in this article.

The system of national accounts is a large set of interrelated indicators, which are calculated on the basis of statistical data. The SNA was formed under the influence of the need to collect and systematize data on the economic activities of states. The first attempts to create a prototype for the system of national accounts dates back to the thirties of the twentieth century - Keynes and his followers understood that macroeconomic regulation can not be implemented without a full picture of the national economic system. The strongest push to develop the SNA was in the late forties, after the establishment of international organizations such as the United Nations, a group of the world bank and the IMF. Since the aforementioned organizations dealt, among other things, with lending to states, they had to assess the credibility and solvency of their debtors on the basis of some indicators, that is why, thanks to their efforts, the SNA developed the basic principles of work and indicators of the system of national accounts. The first official standard of the SNA was adopted in 1953, the second - in 1968, the third - in 1993, and the last, still in force today - in 2008. The emergence of new standards is associated with a change in the structure of the world economy: the transition of developed countries to activities in the provision of services, the emergence of new industries, the activities of transnational corporations, and so on.

The system of national accounts operates with the following indicators:

1) GDP and GNP - these two indicators represent the sum of the values of all goods and services produced in the country. The difference between gross national and domestic products is that the term "domestic" includes the value of products produced by non-residents on the territory of the state, and the notion of "national" products of non-residents does not take into account, but includes products produced by residents of the state abroad.

2) Gross consumption - displays the sum of the values of all goods and services purchased for the purpose of consumption. Let's note, that distinguish industrial (purchase of semifinished products for the purpose of the further processing) and final consumption.

3) Gross accumulation - this indicator gives an idea of the total amount of capital accumulation by both natural and legal persons. Includes deposits in banks, cash on current accounts, as well as operations for the acquisition and improvement of non-current assets.

4) Gross investment - gives an idea of the total amount of money invested by residents. On the basis of indicators Nos. 2, 3 and 4, the norms of consumption and investment are calculated, which represent important indicators of multiplication (the ratio of GDP growth to perfect costs or investments)

5) Foreign trade balance - shows how profitable the country is in the world market, whether it is a net exporter or importer of products.

The system of national accounts today is the instrument without which it is impossible to imagine modern economic science. Knowledge and understanding of the principles of work and calculation of the basic indicators of the SNA is fundamental for understanding both macro- and mega-economic processes.