Economic accounts for agriculture (aact)

1.1. Contact organisation

Central Statistics Office

1.2. Contact organisation unit

Agricultural Accounts and Production Section

1.3. Contact name

Mairead Griffin

1.4. Contact person function

Statistician

1.5. Contact mail address

Central Statistics Office,

Skehard Road,

Cork,

T12 X00E

Ireland

1.6. Contact email address

mairead.griffin@cso.ie

1.7. Contact phone number

00353-21-4535586

1.8. Contact fax number

2.1. Metadata last certified

17 August 2022

2.2. Metadata last posted

1 March 2024

2.3. Metadata last update

1 March 2024

3.1. Data description

The Economic Accounts for Agriculture (EAA) provide detailed information on income from agricultural activity.

The methods are laid down in the Regulation (EC) 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

3.2. Classification system

The EAA are an integral part of the ESA. As such, they are compiled based on NACE Rev.2, the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community. The list of activities which defines the agricultural industry corresponds, in principle, to Division 01 of that classification: Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities. However, some differences exist and they are detailed in Annex 1 of Regulation (EC) 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

3.2.1. Level of detail for compilation of EAA

See the detail below.

3.2.1.1. Components of the Production account : Output

See sheets 'Concept 3.2.1.1.(a)' to 'Concept 3.2.1.1.(c)' in the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

3.2.1.2. Components of the Production account : Intermediate consumption

See sheets 'Concept 3.2.1.2 (a)' to 'Concept 3.2.1.2 (c)' in the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

3.2.1.3. Components of the Generation of income account

See sheet 'Concept 3.2.1.3' and Concept '3.4.3 Other Questions' in the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

3.2.1.4. Components of the Entrepreneurial income account

See sheet 'Concept 3.2.1.4' in the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

3.2.1.5. Components of the Capital account

See sheet 'Concept 3.2.1.5' in the attached Excel file 'Annex 5 - Elements of the Capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

3.3. Coverage - sector

The sector covers all units involved in agricultural production, even if some of those units have more important economic activities or if the purpose of some others is not commercial. However, kitchen gardens (producing for own-consumption only) are not included.

The list of agricultural activities characteristic of the EAA corresponds to the seven groups of Division 01 of NACE Rev 2 activities (01.1 to 01.7), with the following caveats:

- the inclusion of the production of wine and olive oil (exclusively using grapes and olives grown by the same holding),

- the exclusion of certain activities which, in NACE Rev. 2, are considered as agricultural services (e.g. the operation of irrigation systems - only agricultural contract work is taken into account here).

3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions

A detailed methodology can be found in Annex I of Regulation (EC) 138/2004.

The EAA are satellite accounts of the European System of Accounts (ESA) providing complementary information and concepts adapted to the particular nature of the agricultural industry.

The EAA are shown as a sequence of inter-related accounts. As the EAA are based on the industry concept, the sequence of accounts is limited to the first accounts of the current account:

- the production account and

- the generation-of-income account

whose balancing items are value added and operating surplus, respectively.

Nevertheless, it should be possible to compile other accounts, at least in part, in so far as the relevant flows can be clearly attributed to them. The accounts in question are the following:

- the entrepreneurial income account (one of the current accounts) and

- the capital account (one of the accumulation accounts).

The EAA provide a wide range of indicators on the economic activities in the agricultural sector: these include output, intermediate consumption, gross and net value added, gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), both in current prices and in constant prices, as well as compensation of employees, other taxes and subsidies on production, net operating surplus or net mixed income, property income and net entrepreneurial income in current prices.

Three indicators of the economic performance of agriculture are defined in the EAA:

•Indicator A: Index of the real income of factors in agricultural per annual work unit.
•Indicator B: Index of real net agricultural entrepreneurial income per unpaid annual work unit.
•Indicator C: Net entrepreneurial income of agriculture.

3.4.1. Components of the Production account : Output

Agricultural output is the total of agricultural products and the goods and services produced in inseparable non-agricultural secondary activities created during the accounting period. It is recorded as a resource in the production account and it is valued and recorded at the time it is generated, that is when produced and not when paid by the purchaser.

In the compilation of the EAA, output is progressively broken down in quantity terms (see paragraph 2.037 of Regulation (EC) 138/2004).

Output is valued at the basic price. The basic price is the price receivable by the producers from the purchaser for a unit of a good or service produced, minus any tax (i.e. taxes on products) payable on that unit plus any subsidy (i.e. subsidies on products) receivable on that unit. The basic price excludes any transport charges invoiced separately by the producer. It also excludes holding gains and losses on financial and non-financial assets.

The valuation of output at the basic price makes it necessary to distinguish between taxes (other than VAT) on products and subsidies on products, on the one hand, and other taxes and subsidies on production, on the other.

3.4.2. Components of the Production account : Intermediate consumption

Intermediate consumption represents the value of all goods and services used as inputs in the production process, excluding fixed assets whose consumption is recorded as fixed capital consumption.

The inputs used for intermediate consumption should be valued at the purchaser prices for similar goods and services applicable at the time of their insertion in the production process. The purchaser price includes taxes less subsidies on products (but excluding deductible taxes like VAT on the products). It also includes any transport charges paid separately by the purchaser to take delivery at the required time and place.

3.4.3. Components of the Generation of income account

In the case of the generation of income account, the distributive transactions relate to other taxes on production, other subsidies on production and the compensation of employees.

For details please see sheet 3.4.3 - Other questions in the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

3.4.4. Components of the Entrepreneurial income account

The entrepreneurial income account records certain types of property income (mainly land rents, interest and property income attributed to insurance policy holders).

For details please see sheet 'Concept 3.4.4 - Other questions' in the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

3.4.5. Elements of the Capital account

In addition to Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), the capital account records distributive transactions corresponding to aid for investment and other capital transfers.

3.5. Statistical unit

The overall unit is the agricultural sector. However, in order to provide more detailed information and to analyse flows generated by the production process and the use of goods and services, it is necessary to select units which emphasise relationships of a technical-economic kind. This means that, as a rule, institutional units must be broken-down into smaller and more homogeneous units with regard to the kind of production (local kind-of-activity units/local KAUs) are intended to meet this requirement (ESA 2010, 2.147).

The local KAU is defined as the part of a KAU which corresponds to a local unit. The institutional unit's information system must be capable of indicating or calculating for each local KAU at least the value of output, intermediate consumption, compensation of employees, the operating surplus and employment and gross fixed capital formation (ESA 2010, 2.148).

The agricultural holding, (the unit currently used for statistical studies of agriculture (censuses, surveys of the structure of agricultural holdings), is the local KAU most appropriate to the agricultural industry (even though certain other units, such as wine or olive oil cooperatives, or units performing contract work, etc., have to be included in it). Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that the variety of agricultural activities that can be performed on agricultural holdings makes them a special type of local KAU. The strict application of the ESA rule to units and their group should in fact result in a division of the agricultural holding into several separate local KAUs in cases where several activities of the NACE Rev. 2 four-digit class are performed on the same holding.

3.6. Statistical population

Although the ESA gives pre-eminence to local KAUs, the unit best suited to analyse the production process is the unit of homogeneous production (UHP). This unit is used to analyse inputs and outputs, since it corresponds exactly to a type of activity. Institutional units are thus divided into as many UHPs as there are activities (other than ancillary). By grouping these units of homogeneous production it is possible to break down the economy into 'pure' (homogeneous) branches. A UHP cannot, as a rule, be directly observed. Therefore, the accounts of homogeneous branches cannot be compiled on the basis of groups of UHPs. The ESA describes a method for compiling these accounts.

The use of the local KAU as the basic unit for the agricultural industry entails recording non-agricultural secondary activities where they cannot be distinguished from the main agricultural activity (inseparable non-agricultural secondary activities of local agricultural KAUs) The selection criterion for inseparable non-agricultural secondary activities is rather the type of activity than the nature of the product. For example, agro-tourism services provided by a farm must only be included if they cannot be separated from its agricultural activities.

3.7. Reference area

Ireland

3.8. Coverage - Time

From the reference year 1990 to present

3.9. Base period

Base period changes every 5 years in accord with Agriculture Prices. Currently, the base year is 2015 although this will change when data for the 2020 rebase becomes available.

Euro - millions in the Eurostat returns and the tables and publication available on the CSO website. Please note that in the attached 'Annex 7 numerical_example', the examples are in Euros.

The unit of measurement for ALI (Agricultural Labour Input) data is in thousands of AWUs (Annual Work Units), where an AWU is defined as the estimated number of full time worker equivalents. One ALU represents one person employed for at least 8 hours per day, 255 days per year.

The 2020 calendar year.

6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements

EU legislation:

Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 December 2003 on the economic accounts for agriculture in the Community as amended

National legislation: None

6.1.1. Responsible institution for compilation of EAA and unit values of agricultural products

The Central Statistics Office is responsible for compiling the EAA using unit values compiled by that office together with some data from our Ministry of Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and Teagasc, a State agency responsible for providing research, advice and education in agriculture, horticulture, food and rural development.

6.1.2. Responsible institution for compilation of Agricultural Income Index

Central Statistics Office

6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing

Two memoranda of understandings exist between the CSO and our two main providers of data used in the compilation of the EAAs.

They are as follows:

A memorandum of understanding between CSO and Teagasc.

A memorandum of understanding between CSO and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

Copies of these memorandums can be found at the following links:

https://www.cso.ie/en/aboutus/lgdp/legislation/memorandumsofunderstanding/moudafm/

https://www.cso.ie/en/aboutus/lgdp/legislation/memorandumsofunderstanding/csoteagasc/

7.1. Confidentiality - policy

All data collected for the purpose of the EAAs is macro data that is securely collected, stored and processed. All data is treated as strictly confidential and used exclusively for statistical purposes. Steps are taken to ensure confidentiality is protected at all stages of data collection, storage, processing and dissemination. This includes the use of secure servers for the exchange of confidential information, stringent security controls on CSO computer networks and data anonymisation. Access to stored data is based on business needs, is strictly controlled and password protected. EAA results are published in tabular form and are subject to stringent primary and secondary disclosure rules. Confidential data is deleted when no longer required for statistical production.

The Statistics Act 1993 requires the CSO to treat all individual information relating to persons or concerns as strictly confidential. It requires that all collected data can only be used for statistical purposes. Staff appointed to the CSO are made fully aware of their obligations in relation to confidentiality and data security. They must sign a Declaration of Secrecy as specified in the Statistics Act 1993. Anyone who fails to adhere to this is guilty of an offence and liable to severe penalties in the event of a misuse of information collected by the CSO. A copy of the Act can be found at the following link:

https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1993/act/21/enacted/en/print

Detailed information on the CSO's confidentiality policy and code of practice can be found at the following links:

Statistical Confidentiality - CSO - Central Statistics Office

https://www.cso.ie/en/aboutus/lgdp/csodatapolicies/statisticalconfidentiality/codeofpractice/

7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment

Only persons appointed as Officers of Statistics by the Director General of the CSO under the Statistics Act 1993 and who have signed the Declaration of Secrecy have access to confidential data. The CSO computer networks are tightly secured. Access to data on the network is limited, based on business needs only and is password controlled. Passwords are subject to regular updates. Access to data must be authorised at senior management level and authorisation is regularly reviewed. Any misuse of information collected by the CSO constitutes a criminal offence and, upon conviction, the perpetrator is liable for severe penalties.

To further secure the confidentiality of data, the CSO introduced a data management policy. This policy defines the different categories and subcategories of data and sets out prescribed rules for the treatment of the different categories and subcategories. This includes user access management, password security policy, data retention and destruction policy, data archiving, remote working access by staff, physical security and redaction, and statistical disclosure control for tabular data. A summary of this data management policy can be found at the following link:

https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/foi/documents/CSO_Data_Management_Policy_Summary_2019.pdf

In line with this policy, EAA outputs are anonymised aggregates with primary and secondary statistical disclosure rules applied to ensure that no information on identifiable persons or entities are revealed.

7.2.1. Confidentiality rules applied to microdata

Restricted from publication

7.2.2. Comments on the amount of data affected by embargo

Restricted from publication

8.1. Release calendar

The CSO has two release calendars, one internal, which is available to staff only, the other available to the public on the CSO's website. The internal calendar is completed a minimum of one year in advance and helps with the scheduling and coordination of existing and new releases office wide.

There are pre-agreed time frames for the publication of the EAAs on the CSO website. The agreed timeframe for the publication of these releases, titled 'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture Advance/Preliminary/Final Estimates' are as follows:

'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture - Advance Estimate': Due for publication on our website in December, at T-3 weeks.

'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture - Preliminary Estimate': Due for publication in March, at T+11 weeks.

'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture - Final Estimate': Due for publication in June at T+26 weeks.

All 3 releases are pre-announced on the publicly available release calendar no later than at 12 noon on the Thursday of the week prior to publication. The data is then published on our website at 11am on weekdays, at which time it becomes publicly available, free of charge to all.

8.2. Release calendar access

A release calendar, which is updated regularly, is freely available to the public at the following link:

https://www.cso.ie/en/csolatestnews/releasecalendar/

8.3. Release policy - user access

The CSO follows the principles contained in the European Statistics Code of Practice, including Principle 6 on objectivity and impartiality.

All of our 3 releases are pre-announced on the publicly available release calendar no later than at 12 noon on the Thursday of the week prior to publication. The data is then published on our website at 11am on weekdays at which time it becomes publicly available to all users, free of charge. See below link for full details of the CSO's dissemination policy.

https://www.cso.ie/en/aboutus/lgdp/csodatapolicies/csodisseminationpolicy/

The CSO recognises that in very limited circumstances, pre-release access may be justified. Subject to the prescribed formal application procedure being followed and approved by the CSO's Director General, pre-release access may be granted at 10:00am on the morning of the release to named officials. Pre-release access to the three 'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture' releases is granted to two named officials in our Ministry of Agriculture, the 'Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Marine' (DAFM). Full details of the CSO's pre-release access policy is contained in the following link:

https://www.cso.ie/en/aboutus/lgdp/csodatapolicies/csopolicyonpre-releaseaccess/

There are three publications, corresponding to the EAA first, second and final estimates. The timeframe for their release on the CSO website is as follows:

'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture - Advance Estimate': Due for publication on the CSO website in December, at T-3 weeks.

'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture - Preliminary Estimate': Due for publication in March, at T+11 weeks.

'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture - Final Estimate': Due for publication in June, at T+26 weeks.

10.1. Dissemination format - News release

None

10.2. Dissemination format - Publications

All three annual EAA estimates are published on the CSO's website as follows:

'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture - Advance Estimate 2020': Published 8th December 2020

'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture - Preliminary Estimate 2020': Published 4th March 2021.

'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture - Final Estimate 2020': Published 31st Aug 2021.

A link to our releases is below:

https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/agriculture/outputinputandincomeinagriculture/

During the period 31st Aug 2021 to 2nd November 2021, there were 751 web hits on the 'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture - Final Estimate 2020' publication while there were 999 web hits on the 'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture - Preliminary Estimate 2020' between the period 4th March 2021 to 2nd November 2021.

10.3. Dissemination format - online database

Please find below a link to the 'Output, Input and Income in Agriculture' tables on the CSO database:

https://data.cso.ie/product/OIIA

10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access

Not relevant as no microdata is collected for the compilation of the EAAs.

10.5. Dissemination format - other

Restricted from publication

10.6. Documentation on methodology

Summary information on the methodology used to produce our domestic release is publicly available at the following link:

https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/agricultureandfishing/oiiaa/

Background notes are available here:

https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/surveybackgroundnotes/outputinputandincomeinagriculture/

Details of the source data used to compile the release are available here:

https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/methods/outputinputandincomeinagriculture/Methodology_and_Data_Sources_EAA.pdf

A link to our 'Standard Report on Methods and Quality for Output, Input and Income in Agriculture and Regional Accounts for Agriculture' can be found at the following link:

https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/methods/outputinputandincomeinagriculture/Standard_Report_Agriculture_OIIA_&_RAA.pdf

10.6.1. Further methodological guidelines available at national level

In addition to the previous listed publicly available documentation on methodology, there is also numerous other documents outlining the methodology used to produce each variable required for the EAAs. Detailed process maps outlining the flow and timing of work required to produce the EAAs with links to manuals, file locations and the SAS programs used are available for internal use and are reviewed annually.

There are also detailed manuals for each variable required for the EAAs. These step by step guides include templates for raw data, snapshots of files, details on when raw data is available, timelines for requesting the raw data, contact details for source data, location of files and SAS programs used to process/extract raw data, where and how raw data is entered into the files, the order in which the file can be processed, the processing required to create the output variables and the validation and consistency checks to be performed on these variables.

10.7. Quality management - documentation

In additional to the publicly available documents on the methodology used for the EAAs, there are also very detailed internal operation manuals that cover every aspect of the production of our EAA estimates. These are step by step guides that cover literally everything required for producing our statistics. For example, each manual includes a list of the inputs required to generate each of the variables required for the EAA, when these inputs are available, the contact details of the data provider, templates for the raw data, the processing required for each set of EAA estimates, the validation and consistency checks to be run and the outputs generated.

Very detailed process maps are also available that map each step to producing the EAAs including links to databases, SAS programs used to source and process data, the detailed manuals mentioned above etc.

11.1. Quality assurance

The CSO has invested significant resources to assure and enhance the integrity and quality of its outputs. This is reflected in corporate documentation, business plans and the Role Profile Forms of individual staff.

The CSO has a Quality Management, Support and Assurance (QMSA) division who are responsible for the development and implementation of the CSO’s Quality Management Framework (QMF). The overall goal of the QMF is to meet the required standard as set out in the European Statistical System Code of Practice (ESCOP) and the QMF foundations are based on establishing the UNECE’s Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM) as the operating statistical production model in the CSO.

With support from staff in the QMSA division, the GSBPM has been introduction for the EAAs and there has been a strong focus on improving and standardising our EAA documentation. Detailed process maps were created and these are reviewed annually. Significant resources have also been deployed in the development of process metrics and indicators. The CSO has also introduced a Quality Review System and numerous data and process governance initiatives and data management and governance support tools.

Further details on the CSO's Quality Management Framework can be found at the following link:

https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/quality/qualitymanagementframework/

11.2. Quality management - assessment

Restricted from publication

12.1. Relevance - User Needs

The main users are Eurostat, Teagasc, DAFM, researchers, farmer representative bodies and the media. The way they use the EAA data depends on the needs of the user. For example, DAFM use the data to both benchmark and evaluate agricultural policy; researchers use the data to suggest developments in food and farm polices; the media uses it to inform their audience on farm incomes and expenditure while farmer representative bodies use the EAAs to advocate on behalf of farmers.

12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction

We have a good working relationship with all our main users. We are in regular communication with them and also hold a formal annual meeting with all of our main national users. Based on their feedback, they are satisfied with our outputs as they meet their current needs.

12.3. Completeness

The only data that we are unable to provide to meet our EAA regulatory responsibilities is data on interest received by farmers. Despite extensive research into this, including recent discussions with the Central Bank of Ireland, we are unable to find any source for this data.

13.1. Accuracy - overall

Not applicable to EAA compilation.

13.2. Sampling error

Not applicable to EAA compilation.

13.3. Non-sampling error

Not applicable to EAA compilation.

14.1. Timeliness

Advance estimates for 2020 were published on the CSO website on 8/12/2020. Preliminary estimates were then published on 4/03/2021 while the 2020 final estimates were published on 31/08/2021.

14.2. Punctuality

All three estimates were delivered to Eurostat ahead of schedule. In relation to the domestic release of our agricultural accounts data, the first two estimates were delivered on time. However, while scheduled for publication in June of 2021, due to the impact of the Covid pandemic on the collection of the 2020 NFS data, a critical data source for, amongst other things, information on intermediate consumption costs, the final estimates were not published until August 31st 2021.

15.1. Comparability - geographical

The results published domestically are basically the same as those transmitted to Eurostat, although there are some minor differences between the formatting of national releases and our EU transmissions. The data sent to Eurostat is more detailed than what is published nationally. Also, for the benefit of domestic users, cereals produced for own/inter farm consumption, while classified as cereals on our EU transmissions, are categorised as forage plants in our domestic releases.

15.2. Comparability - over time

On the whole, the results are comparable over time although there may be some minor breaks in the series due to changes in the base year resulting from changes in the baskets of goods used by Agriculture Prices

15.3. Coherence - cross domain

There is full coherence between the EAAs and the regional economic accounts for agriculture (REAAs). The only other producer of data on farm incomes and expenditure is Teagasc, which publishes its results under the National Farm Survey (NFS). When allowances are made for the different coverage (the NFS excludes very small farms defined as farms with a standard output of less than €8,000 as well as all pig and poultry farms), comparative analysis show that the results correlate well.

15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics

Quarterly estimates of EAAs produced for National Accounts are fully coherent with our annual estimates.

15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts

The EAA data is used by National Accounts for their estimates and other than those described in Annex 1 of Regulation (EC) 138/2004 there is full coherence between the EAAs and National Accounts.

15.4. Coherence - internal

There is full internal coherence.

As no survey is issued specifically for the production of the EAAs, no estimates are made of the cost and burden of producing this output.

17.1. Data revision - policy

Three estimates of the EAAs are produced for each year, namely ‘First/Advance’, ‘Second/Preliminary’ and ‘Final’ estimates. Revisions to previous years’ estimates are made as part of the production process for the Final estimates.

When preparing the final estimates for the current year’s release (year T), routine revisions are made to the final estimates for the two previous years (i.e. for years T-1 and T-2). These revisions to previously published final estimates tend to be minor.

Only in exceptional circumstances are non-routine revisions made to any years prior to those (i.e. to years T-3 or earlier) and this non-routine revised data will be published at the Final estimate release stage on the PxStat Open Data Portal on the CSO website as well as being transmitted to Eurostat with the Year T Final estimates.

Major revisions are required if, for example, there are major methodological or classification changes or if our data providers advise us of significant amendments to their original data. The latter are rare and if they do occur, revisions will be applied retrospectively to all years affected. In some very rare circumstances, for example major classifications changes, the revisions can be made back to the beginning of the time series.

17.2. Data revision - practice

17.2.1. Years where retropolations are carried out and (if they are not yet available) when they will be available

Revisions are made to data at the time of each agricultural prices rebase, the last one being 2015. The next price rebase year will be for the year 2020. The revisions arising from the 2020 rebase should be available for publication with the Final 2022 EAA estimates. These are expected to be available on the CSO website in June 2023.

When preparing the Final 2021 EAA estimates, revisions were also made for the years 2017 to 2020 arising from changes identified in the 2020 Census of Agriculture in the profile of Irish farms and the split of 'AWUs' (annual work units) between paid and unpaid labour.

17.2.2. Details of retropolation method used : items for which estimations are made and assumptions on which these estimations are based

The 2020 Census of Agriculture identified some significant changes to the number of farms by farm type and size class since the 2016 Farm Structural Survey (FSS). The number of farms by size class and type is used to gross the NFS data, the main data source for the cost of many of our intermediate consumption items. As there were no indicators to suggest that there was any specific reason for the changes to farm profiles that would allowed us to attribute the changes to/from specific years, the conclusion was that these structural changes would have occurred gradually over the intervening years. As a result, it was decided to evenly 'split' these changes between the years 2017 to 2020. This required revising the grossing factors used for the NFS data for those years, which impacted on the valuation of almost all items of intermediate consumption costs.

The CoA also showed significant changes since the 2016 FSS in the distribution of AWUs (annual work units) between paid and unpaid labour, although the change to the total AWUs was marginal. The AWUs are a key component in the estimation of the cost of 'compensation of employees' and are only available for years when a CoA or FSS is conducted. With no evidence to indicate that the changes occurred in/from any specific year, the decision was made to also evenly 'split' the changes between the years 2017 to 2020, resulting in revisions to the estimates of the cost of 'compensation of employees' for those years.

18.1. Source data

18.1.1. Data sources used - Components of the Production account : Output

See sheet 'Concept 18.1.1' of the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

18.1.2. Data sources used - Components of the Production account : Intermediate consumption

For detailed explanations on data sources used, please see remarks under 'concept 18.1.3' in Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption'.

18.1.3. Data sources used - Individual intermediate consumption items

See sheet 'Concept 18.1.3' of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

18.1.4. Data sources used - Components of the Generation of the income account

See sheet 'Concept 18.1.4' of the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

18.1.5. Data sources used - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account

See sheet 'Concept 18.1.5' of the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

18.1.6. Data sources used – Elements of the Capital account

See sheets 'Concept 18.1.6 - GFCF', 'Concept 18.1.6 - CFC', 'Concept 18.1.6 - Changes inventor' and 'Concept 18.1.6 - capital transfe' of the attached Excel file 'Annex 5 - Elements of the Capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

18.2. Frequency of data collection

18.2.1. Time of the year where the updates of the EAA are carried out

See details of the timing of EAA revisions which are outlined in section 17.1 above.

18.2.2. Years covered by each of these updates (i.e. update in September of year n for the years n-1, n-2, n-3 )

See details of the years covered by each of the EAA revisions outlined in section 17.1 above.

18.3. Data collection

Where relevant, requests for data are issued by email and, in the event of non-response, second and third emails will issue. If these emails fail to elicit a response, the data provider is contacted by telephone.

All confidential data is securely transmitted to the compilers of the EAA. Much of the data required for producing the EAAs is available internally within the CSO (e.g. prices data, livestock numbers, trade data, areas under crops etc), and this data is collected either by using IT systems to directly access the databases where the source data is stored, or by the custodians of the required data transferring it to the secure internal mailbox that can only be accessed by authorised staff. Some of the required data is readily available on public websites and this is just downloaded for use in the production of the EAAs (e.g. Central Bank of Ireland data on outstanding loans to the agricultural sector and interest rates charged). Further data is already collected by the EAA producers as part of the production process for other outputs which they are responsible for, e.g. data on meat production. Some non-confidential data is transferred to the CSO using the EAA secure mailbox. For smaller volumes of data, e.g. when just one figure is required from the provider, this may sometimes be collected by phone.

18.4. Data validation

The EAAs are processed using excel spreadsheets. The first checks are to ensure that when creating new worksheets for the estimates, all formulas are correctly copied and amended as necessary.

Detailed validation checks are done on both the disaggregated and aggregated data. When source data are received, they are entered into the data collection repository. The accuracy of the data entry is then manually checked for any data entry errors. Once the data entry has passed the initial validation checks, a year on year comparative analysis of the source data is performed. Any unexplained significant changes in the source data are queried with the data provider and the source data is then either amended, or the explanations for the changes are noted.

If source data is not available at the time of preparing EAA estimates, missing values are imputed for. The calculation of these values is checked for consistency with previous years' data and for internal consistency with any other available data that may be correlated to the missing data.

Once the source/imputed data are validated, the data is processed, aggregates are created and then an analysis of these aggregates is undertaken. This analysis includes a year on year analysis of the changes in individual output values and their constituent price and volume indices. The results of this analysis may lead to further investigation, such as querying the validity of the source data if this was not previously done, rechecking formulas used in the processing of the data, consulting with industry experts etc. The conclusion of this analysis may necessitate changes to original estimates/source data which in turn means that the whole validation process recommences from the data entry stage.

18.5. Data compilation

18.5.1. Calculation procedures

18.5.1.1. Components of the Production account - Output

See sheet 'Concept 18.5.1.1' of the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See also Excel file 'Annex 6 - Calculation methods output'.

18.5.1.2. Components of the Production account : Intermediate consumption

See sheet 18.5.1.2 (a) and 18.5.1.2 (b) of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

18.5.1.3. Components of the Generation of income account

See sheet 'Concept 18.5.1.3' of the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

18.5.1.4. Components of the Entrepreneurial income account

See sheet 'Concept 18.5.1.4' of the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

18.5.1.5. Elements of the Capital account

See sheets 'Concept 18.5.1.5 - GFCF', 'Concept 18.5.1.5 - CFC', 'Concept 18.5.1.5 Changes invent' and 'Concept 18.5.1.5 Capital transf' in Annex 5 - Elements of the Capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

18.5.2. Estimations

18.5.2.1. Components of the Production account : Output

See sheets 'Concept 18.5.2.1' of the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

18.5.2.2. Components of the Production account : Intermediate consumption

See sheet 'Concept 18.5.2.2' of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

18.5.2.3. Components of the Generation of income account

See sheet 'Concept 18.5.2.3' of the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

18.5.2.4. Components of the Entrepreneurial income account

See sheet 'Concept 18.5.2.4 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

18.5.2.5. Elements of the Capital account

See sheet 'Concept 18.5.2.5 Capital accoun' of the attached Excel file 'Annex 5 - Elements of the Capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.