Quarterly National Accounts/High Frequency Indicators of Economic Activity

Source details

Canonical URL: Quarterly National Accounts/High Frequency Indicators of Economic Activity

Training Program that prepares participants to compile quarterly national accounts (QNA) and/or high frequency indicators of economic activity (HFIEA).
Emphasis on concepts, source data, and compilation techniques covering theoretical and practical issues.
Introduces benchmarking, seasonal adjustment techniques, and volume estimates; explains application of these techniques to time series data.
Teaches identification and assessment of available data sources, use of related real-time series databases to assess quality, and implementation of a suitable revisions policy.

Target Audience:
- Officials worldwide who are responsible for compiling quarterly national accounts (QNA) and/or high frequency indicators of economic activity (HFIEA).
Qualifications:
- Participants are expected to have a degree in economics or statistics; or equivalent experience.

Compilation frameworks and methods:
- Recognize the role, scope, and uses of QNA and HFIEAs.
- Describe the compilation framework for the QNA and the different compilation methods for HFIEAs (including composite leading indicators).
Data sources and compilation approaches:
- Review available data sources for compiling QNA by the income, expenditure and production approaches, and HFIEAs.
Volume measures and chain-linking:
- Explain the use of volume measures and the basic relation between value, quantity, and price; detect and address issues such as the need for updated weights; recognize the loss of additivity for chain-linked volume estimates.
Benchmarking and gap-filling:
- Compile benchmarked series using the recommended techniques.
- Apply basic techniques for filling data gaps.
Seasonal adjustment:
- Identify good seasonal adjustment practices and apply basic seasonal adjustment techniques to time series.
Revisions policy and real-time databases:
- Formulate a balanced revisions policy taking account of how related real-time databases can be used to assess the reliability of the QNA/HFIEA estimates.