## 2.30 Methodological guidance on compiling and analyzing State-Owned-Enterprise (SOE) data

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### Summary of proposed recommendations
- Introduce a supplementary statement within the GFS analytical framework to present key transactions and balance-sheet positions between general government and public corporations, using a standard format (Annex I) to be revisited after completion of the GFSM update research phase.
- Maintain current GFSM 2014 guidance (i.e., no explicit direction) on applying the Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG) to expenditure of market SOEs (i.e., public corporations).
- Retain the GFSM’s current structure while adding targeted SOE-specific paragraphs and/or text boxes in core chapters, to be developed after the research phase.
- Develop, after publication of the GFSM update, a stand-alone applied SOE compilation guide with practical examples to support implementation (see Annex II for proposed structure).
- Links referenced: DN 2.30 Methodological guidance on compiling and analyzing SOE data; GFSM 2014, 2025 SNA (pre-edit) and BPM7 (pre-edit).
- Global Consultation(s): GFSM: March 2026. Discussions at GFSAC Meeting(s): January 2026. Discussions at AEG/BOPCOM Meeting(s): N/A.

### Background and identified issues
- The GFSM 2014 disperses SOE-related information throughout the manual and lacks comprehensive guidance on applying government-focused guidance to market producers; concrete examples are scarce.
- Growing user demand for more comprehensive, granular and internationally comparable public sector data as fiscal risks and sustainability concerns increasingly relate to SOE activities.
- Compilers often rely on SOE financial statements rather than transaction-level data, creating a need for practical guidance to translate accounting information (e.g., IPSAS, IFRS) into SNA/GFSM concepts.
- Specific issues identified:
  - Issue A — Presentation of transactions and stocks between general government and public corporations:
    - GFS analytic framework does not fully support detailed analysis of interactions between government and market SOEs.
    - Public corporations are often not reported; consolidated public sector statistics may be missing, causing transactions to be confused with private entities.
    - Subsidies usually identifiable; capital injections, debt relief, guarantee calls, asset transfers, and property income flows with public corporations often not separately captured.
    - Government claims and obligations to public corporations are not clearly separated from those with private companies (examples: on-lending, government equity mixed with private investments, government debt held by public corporations grouped with private sector liabilities).
  - Issue B — Application of COFOG to expenditure incurred by market SOEs:
    - GFSM 2014 provides no explicit guidance on whether or how COFOG should be applied to market SOEs/public corporations; this gap is reflected in UN and Eurostat manuals.
    - Excluding public corporation spending can bias functional public-sector analysis; COFOG was not designed for market producers, making consistent application difficult.
    - Global consultation responses: most respondents reported they do not compile COFOG data for public corporations; reasons include conceptual concerns, reliance on commercial accounting standards, and data capacity constraints; a small minority compile such data partially or with modified classifications.
  - Issue C — Structure of the SOE guidance in the GFSM:
    - SOE information is distributed throughout the manual and lacks concrete examples illustrating application to real-world SOEs; enhancing presentation and adding practical compilation/analysis guidance is advisable.
  - Issue D — Supplementary applied guidance outside GFSM:
    - Many practical challenges fall outside the core GFSM; compilers would benefit from applied examples and case studies.
    - Need for practical guidance on translating IAS/IFRS/IPSAS treatments into SNA/GFSM concepts for issues such as leases, insurance contracts, and data assets.
    - Regional materials (e.g., Europe’s MGDD 2022, ESA 2010) provide useful case studies but have limited suitability as a global reference.

### Proposed recommendations (by issue)
- Issue A:
  - Introduce a new supplementary statement on interactions between general government and public corporation sectors into the GFS analytic framework.
  - A proposed format is provided in Annex I and should be revisited after the GFSM update research phase is complete to reflect changes arising from other research projects.
- Issue B:
  - Maintain the current guidance in GFSM 2014 without explicit direction on the use of COFOG for reporting expenditure of public corporations.
- Issue C:
  - Maintain the present structure of the manual, appending core chapters with paragraphs and/or text boxes on SOE-specific considerations; these boxes should be developed after the GFSM update research phase is complete.
- Issue D:
  - Produce a stand-alone applied compilation guide for SOE data after the update of the GFSM; proposed structure provided in Annex II.

### Rationale for recommendations
- Improve transparency and consistency in recording and presenting interactions between government and SOEs to support better fiscal analysis without major changes to the existing framework.
- Preserve flexibility where international practice and user needs are still evolving, while strengthening the manual through targeted SOE-related additions that fit within the current structure.
- Recognize the value of complementary, practical guidance (examples and case studies) to help compilers address common implementation challenges, subject to available resources and prioritization.

### Proposed text for GFSM update (select excerpts)
- Supplementary statement purpose and scope:
  - The supplementary statement provides a standardized presentation of key flows and balance sheet positions between the general government sector and the public corporations sector. Its purpose is to improve the visibility of fiscal relationships and exposures—such as equity injections and withdrawals, on-lending, debt assumption and relief, guarantee calls, and other forms of support—thereby strengthening fiscal analysis, transparency, and fiscal risk monitoring.
  - The statement is intended to complement (not replace) existing GFS statements and can be compiled for the total general government and/or for subsectors, depending on country needs and data availability.
  - For this statement, “public corporations” refers to resident public corporations as defined in the GFSM. “Between” general government and public corporations refers to transactions and positions for which the counterpart unit is in the other sector; totals in this statement are not intended to equal totals for the same categories in the main statements, which also include transactions and positions with other counterpart sectors (households, private corporations, nonresidents, etc.).
- Groupings in the supplementary table:
  - (i) revenue and expense with public corporations (e.g., taxes, subsidies, dividends/withdrawals, interest, transfers);
  - (ii) net/gross investment in nonfinancial assets with public corporations (e.g., acquisitions/disposals of produced and nonproduced assets, and asset transfers);
  - (iii) transactions in financial assets and liabilities with public corporations (e.g., loans and on-lending, equity and investment fund shares, accounts payable/receivable, and other instruments);
  - (iv) asset and liability positions vis-à-vis public corporations (e.g., government claims on public corporations and obligations to them).
- No new GFSM text is proposed for Issue B; text for Issue C will be developed during the drafting phase. The compilation guide for Issue D is to be developed after GFSM update publication.

### Annex I: Proposed supplementary statement (selected line items and codes)
- Statement of operations and balances between general government and public corporations (selected entries listed in proposed format):
  - 1PC Revenue from public corporations
    - 11PC Taxes from public corporations
    - 14PC Other revenue from public corporations
      - 141PC Property income from public corporations
        - 1411PC Interest from public corporations
        - 1412PC Dividends from public corporations
        - 1413 Withdrawals of income from quasi-corporations
        - 1414 Property income from investment income disbursements
        - 1415PC Rent from public corporations
        - 1416 Reinvested earnings on foreign direct investment
      - 144PC Transfers not elsewhere classified from public corporations
        - 1441PC Current transfers from public corporations
        - 1442PC Capital transfers from public corporations
    - 142PC Sales and goods and services from public corporations
    - 143PC Fines, penalties, and forfeits from public corporations
    - 145PC Premiums, fees, and claims related to nonlife insurance and standardized guarantee schemes from public corporations
  - 2PC Expense to public corporations
    - 24PC Interest to public corporations
    - 251 Subsidies to public corporations
    - 28PC Other expense to public corporations
      - 2812 Withdrawals of income from quasi-corporations
      - 2813 Property expense for investment income disbursements
      - 2813PC Property expense for investment income disbursements
      - 2815PC Reinvested earnings on foreign direct investment
      - 282PC Transfers not elsewhere classified to public corporations
        - 2821PC Current to public corporations
        - 2822PC Capital to public corporations
      - 283PC Premiums, fees, and claims related to nonlife insurance and standardized guarantee schemes to public corporations
  - 31PC Net/gross investment in nonfinancial assets with public corporations
  - 32PC Transactions in financial assets with public corporations
    - 3202PC Currency and deposits
    - 3203PC Debt securities
    - 3204PC Loans
    - 3205PC Equity and investment fund shares
    - 3206PC Insurance, pension, and standardized guarantee schemes
    - 3207PC Financial derivatives and employee stock options
    - 3208PC Other accounts payable
  - 33PC Transactions in liabilities with public corporations (3302PC–3308PC mirroring asset categories)
  - 62PC Asset positions with public corporations (6202PC–6208PC mirroring transaction categories)
  - 63PC Liability positions with public corporations (6302PC–6308PC mirroring transaction categories)

### Annex II: Proposed structure for standalone SOE applied compilation guide (selected components)
- Sector classification of SOEs:
  - Distinction between the national and statistical sector classification, including case studies and special cases.
  - Distinction between market and non-market entities, including case studies of market / non-market test, special cases, and advice on performing the quantitative assessment.
  - Public sector institutional table (PSIT), including discussion of its use in wider economic statistics and public financial management (PFM) practices.
- Data collection and compilation issues:
  - Common data sources, including discussion of periodicity, timeliness and statistical techniques for predicting missing time series data (e.g., nowcasting, linear interpolation, time series models, Kalman filter).
  - Approaches to data mapping, including applicability of GFSM transaction categories to market and non-market entities.
  - Common conceptual adjustments, including transaction and instrument recognition boundary, time of recording and valuation; consistency between flow and balance sheet adjustments.
  - Consolidation, including dealing with subsidiaries of the SOEs; identification of intra-public sector flows and stocks; treatment of estimates recorded on an asymmetric basis in accounting (such as leased assets and grant revenue).
- Selected issues:
  - Reconciliation between accounting and statistical aggregates.
  - Practical approaches to dealing with data sources not compliant with statistical requirements, including IAS 20 Accounting for Government Grants and Disclosure of Government Assistance; IFRS 16 Leases / IPSAS 43 Leases; IFRS 17 Insurance contracts and equivalent standards.
- Note: Some of these issues are considered as part of the GFSM 2014 Update Research Project 2.27: Relationship between GFS and IPSAS.

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/data/statistics/gfsm/global-consultations/proposed-recommendations-gfsm-2014-update-230-methodological-guidance-on-compilation-and-an.pdf_