Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Unit C.1 : National accounts methodology; Standards and indicators
1.3. Contact name
Restricted from publication
1.4. Contact person function
Restricted from publication
1.5. Contact mail address
5, Rue Alphonse Weicker, 2721 Luxembourg
1.6. Contact email address
Restricted from publication
1.7. Contact phone number
Restricted from publication
1.8. Contact fax number
Restricted from publication
2.1. Metadata last certified
19 March 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
19 March 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
19 March 2025
3.1. Data description
The financial flows and stocks data are reported quarterly to the European Central Bank (ECB - ECB website - Sector accounts). Once validated the data are transmitted to Eurostat. For more details, please see section 6.
Financial flows and stocks data are often referred to collectively in the national accounts framework as ‘financial accounts’. Financial flows consist of transactions and other flows, and represent the difference between the opening financial balance sheet at the start of the year and the closing balance sheet at the end of the year. These terms are described in further detail in section 3.4.
Financial flows and stocks contain statistical information based on the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) (see annex below), which came into force in September 2014. The data are compiled with reference to:
Financial balance sheets (nasq_10_f_bs)
Financial transactions (nasq_10_f_tr)
Revaluation accounts (nasq_10_f_gl)
Other changes in volume (nasq_10_f_oc)
Financial accounts: counterpart information (nasq_10_f_cp)
The financial assets held and the liabilities outstanding at a particular point in time are recorded in the balance sheet. Financial transactions result in changes between opening and closing balance sheets. However, changes between the opening balance sheet and the closing balance sheet are also due to other flows, which are not interactions between institutional units by mutual agreement. Other flows related to financial assets and liabilities are broken down into revaluations in financial assets and liabilities, and changes in the volume of financial assets and liabilities not due to financial transactions. Revaluations are recorded in the revaluation account and changes in volume in the other changes in the volume of assets account. Some revaluation accounts data are available for the euro area only at quarterly level.
For more information, see also:
The dedicated website for Financial accounts and Sector accounts
The classification system follows the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) (see annex below). The latter is an internationally compatible accounting framework for a systematic and detailed description of a total economy, its components and its relations with other total economies. Thus, the concepts, definitions and classifications are based on ESA 2010.
3.3. Coverage - sector
The institutional sectors of ESA 2010 are listed below.
Total economy (S.1): Total economy refers to the whole economy of a given region (country or aggregate).
Non-financial corporations (S.11): Non-financial corporations are independent legal entities and market producers, whose principal activity is the production of goods and non-financial services. This sector includes private and public corporations that are market producers principally engaged in the production of goods and non-financial services.
ESA2010 Definition: the non-financial corporations sector (S.11) consists of institutional units which are independent legal entities and market producers, and whose principal activity is the production of goods and non-financial services. The non-financial corporations sector also includes non-financial quasi-corporations.
Financial corporations (S.12): Financial corporations are independent legal entities and market producers, whose principal activity is the production of financial services. This includes banks, investments and pension funds, insurances.
ESA2010 Definition: the financial corporations sector (S.12) consists of institutional units which are independent legal entities and market producers, and whose principal activity is the production of financial services. Such institutional units comprise all corporations and quasi-corporations which are principally engaged in:
Also included are institutional units providing financial services, where most of either their assets or their liabilities are not transacted on open markets.
General government (S.13): General government are institutional units, which are non-market producers, whose output is intended for individual and collective consumption.
ESA2010 Definition: the general government sector (S.13) consists of institutional units which are non-market producers whose output is intended for individual and collective consumption, and are financed by compulsory payments made by units belonging to other sectors, and institutional units principally engaged in the redistribution of national income and wealth.
Households (S.14): Households are individuals consuming or producing market output for their own private use.
ESA2010 Definition: the households sector (S.14) consists of individuals or groups of individuals as consumers and as entrepreneurs producing market goods and non-financial and financial services (market producers) provided that the production of goods and services is not by separate entities treated as quasi-corporations. It also includes individuals or groups of individuals as producers of goods and non-financial services for exclusively own final use.
Non-profit institutions serving households (S.15): Non-profit institutions serving households are entities that supply non-market output for individual consumption.
ESA2010 Definition: the non-profit institutions serving households (NPISHs) sector (S.15) consists of non-profit institutions which are separate legal entities, which serve households and which are private non-market producers. Their principal resources are voluntary contributions in cash or in kind from households in their capacity as consumers, from payments made by general government and from property income.
Rest of the World (S.2): Rest of the world refers to all countries except the EU-27.
ESA2010 Definition: the rest of the world sector (S.2) is a grouping of units without any characteristic functions and resources; it consists of non-resident units insofar as they are engaged in transactions with resident institutional units, or have other economic links with resident units. Its accounts provide an overall view of the economic relationships linking the national economy with the rest of the world. The institutions of the EU and international organisations are included.
For detailed definitions of institutional sectors and sub-sectors, see ESA 2010 chapter 2.
The statistical reporting requirements in the field of quarterly financial accounts are set out in the ECB guidelines and the data shall comply with the principles and definitions of the ESA 2010.
The transmission of the first, “core” dataset has been mandatory since October 2014 and comprises assets and liabilities by institutional sector (Guideline Annex Tables 1 and 2) as well as the who-to-whom (or “counterpart sector”) tables for deposits and short-term and long-term loans (Guideline Annex Tables 3 to 5). A minimum range of back data, starting from reference quarter Q4 2012, has been mandatory since October 2014. Additional back data (Q1 1999-Q3 2012) became mandatory with the October 2017 transmission. The second dataset comprises the counterpart sector details for securities (Guideline Annex Tables 6 to 9), starting from the first reference quarter Q4 2013; its transmission became mandatory in September 2016.
For financial accounts, data are requested in general terms starting from reference quarter 1999Q1 for stocks, transactions and other changes in volume and revaluation accounts. Data are requested in non-consolidated form.
For other changes in volume and revaluation accounts, data are mandatory only from reference year 2012 and in non-consolidated form for main sectors and financial instruments. Counterpart information is voluntary.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The concepts, definitions and classifications are based on the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) (see annex below).
Financial transactions take place between resident institutional units, and between them and the rest of the world. They are recorded in the financial account, which shows how the surplus or deficit of the capital account is financed by transactions in financial assets and liabilities.
The financial account indicates how net borrowing sectors obtain resources by incurring liabilities or reducing assets, and how net lending sectors allocate their surpluses by acquiring assets or reducing liabilities. The financial account also shows the contributions to these transactions of the various types of financial assets, and the role of financial intermediaries. Most transactions involving the transfer of ownership of goods or assets or the provision of services have some counterpart entry in the financial account. Moreover, many transactions are recorded entirely within the financial account, where one financial asset is exchanged for another or a liability is repaid with an asset. Financial assets may also be created through the incurrence of liabilities. Such transactions change the distribution of the portfolio of financial assets and liabilities and may change their total amounts but do not affect the net lending / net borrowing (B.9).
Balance sheets are statements of the value of the stocks of assets and liabilities at a particular point of time. They can be drawn up for institutional units, institutional sectors and the whole economy. The balancing item of the financial balance sheet (i.e., excluding non-financial assets) is the 'net financial assets' (BF.90). The net financial asset is calculated as the difference between total financial assets and total liabilities. A closing financial balance sheet is equal to the opening balance sheet plus changes resulting from financial transactions and other flows (revaluations and other changes in volume of financial assets/liabilities).
Other changes in assets record changes that are not the result of transactions. They are either a) Other changes in the volume of assets and liabilities, or b) holding gains and losses. Other changes in volume include the normal appearance and disappearance of assets other than by transactions, changes in assets and liabilities due to exceptional or unanticipated events, which are not economic in nature, and changes in classification and structure. Holding gains and losses are recorded in the revaluation account, and occur when there are changes in the prices of assets or liabilities over time, without transforming them in any way.
Financial assets and liabilities: Definitions of the categories and sub-categories are provided in ESA 2010 chapter 5.
Time of recording: In principle, flows are recorded on an accrual basis, i.e. accumulated over time. Thus, economic value is created, transformed or extinguished, or when claims and obligations arise, are transformed or are cancelled; the time of recording is often not when cash is exchanged. See ESA 2010, chapter 5.
Valuation rules: In principle, financial flows and stocks are recorded at exchange or market value. For detailed valuation rules that apply to some categories of financial instruments, see ESA 2010, chapter 5.
Consolidation: Quarterly financial accounts data are non-consolidated.
3.5. Statistical unit
The main statistical units are the Institutional units, as defined in ESA 2010, Chapter 2, § 2.12-2.13. This can refer to, for example, a corporation, a household or a government agency.
3.6. Statistical population
The national accounts population of a country consists of all resident statistical units. A unit is a resident unit of a country when it has a centre of predominant economic interest on the economic territory of that country, that is, when it engages for an extended period (one year or more) in economic activities on this territory.
National accounts are exhaustive. This means that all resident statistical units are covered.
The population of the countries' national accounts data as published by Eurostat includes, in principle, all resident statistical units. The population of the euro area includes, the economic territory of the euro area Member States, the ECB, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).
For description of the covered sectors, please see section 3.3.
3.7. Reference area
The financial flows and stocks data are reported quarterly to the ECB. Once validated the data are transmitted to Eurostat. The reported areas are for all EU member states and for the euro area aggregates.
3.8. Coverage - Time
According to the ECB Guidelines (see annex below), EA countries should transmit data from the first quarter of 1999 onwards.
The length of the series may vary from one country to another.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Data are disseminated in Euro/ECU, national currency, and as % of GDP.
National currency series (NAC) (including fixed euro series for euro area Member States) are transmitted by Member states and correspond in principle to nationally published figures. They are suitable for studying the development of a variable in a single country over time.
Euro series (EUR) are derived from transmitted national currency series using historic exchange rates. For flow data, quarterly average exchange rates are used. For balance sheet data, end of the period exchange rates are used. They are suitable for internal comparison and aggregation. When comparing them over time, account must be taken of exchange rate effects.
Quarter.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Quarterly financial accounts are compiled in accordance with the Guideline of the ECB of 29 April 2021 (ECB/2021/20) amending Guideline ECB/2013/24. See Annex below.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
The data are transmitted to Eurostat by the ECB.
Data sharing with ECB is governed by a service level agreement signed between Eurostat and ECB in February 2008.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation (EC) No 223 on European statistics (Article 20(4) of 26 December 2024 (02009R0223, p. 23)), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Confidential data are only disseminated when they are combined with other data, in a form that ensures that statistical units cannot be (directly or indirectly) identified. If a Member State has declared data confidential in line with national legislation or practice, such data are transmitted to Eurostat marked with a special confidentiality flag.
Similarly, some data may be transmitted by Member State to Eurostat before the publication, and are then put under embargo.
Data flagged as confidential by the data compilers or with an embargo date is not disseminated, until the confidentiality flag is lifted in a subsequent data transmission or the embargo date is expired.
8.1. Release calendar
The ECB Guideline requires two transmissions: (i) the transmission of a sub-set of supplementary financial accounts data at t+85 to enable compilation of an integrated set of quarterly euro area financial and non-financial accounts, and (ii) the transmission of the full set of national financial accounts data at t+97.
All euro area countries transmitted the supplementary data and the full set of national data by the respective deadlines.
ECB releases the financial accounts national data at t+108. Eurostat publishes the data as soon as they are received by the ECB.
8.2. Release calendar access
The ECB, together with national central banks, publishes financial accounts based on the ECB release calendar. Eurostat republishes the data as soon as they are received by the ECB.
8.3. Release policy - user access
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
Quarterly.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
The ECB publishes two press releases per quarter, outlining the latest data and relevant economic developments, on the ECB’s website. The dissemination dates for all press releases are announced at the beginning of each calendar year in the ECB release calendar.
At the ECB website, the euro area aggregates and the national data can also be accessed via the ECB’s Statistical Data Warehouse or in the section in the Statistics Bulletin on sector accounts.
Documentation is available from the ECB and from national statistical authorities. See ECB Handbook on quarterly financial accounts for the euro area (Annex below) and the Implementing ESA2010 in the quarterly financial accounts and EA accounts, as well as the Guideline of the ECB of 29 April 2021 (Annex below).
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts quality report, released by ECB, is available at this webiste.
11.1. Quality assurance
The main principles and elements guiding the production of ECB statistics are set out in the ECB Statistics Quality Framework (SQF) (Annex blow) and quality assurance procedures, which are published on the ECB’s website.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The ECB conducts a quarterly compliance exercise on the transmitted data. The findings are made available to the national compilers. ECB issues Euro area and national quarterly financial accounts quality report. The 2022 report is available at this webiste: ECB website - Euro area financial accounts.
Eurostat makes comparisons of the quarterly financial accounts to the annual financial accounts which EU Member States are required to provide to Eurostat under the ESA transmission programme. Comparison is done ex post, after annual financial accounts are disseminated. Quality issues are addressed by countries.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The ECB statistical function attaches great importance to user satisfaction. Therefore, users’ needs in terms of data and metadata availability and accessibility are regularly assessed by means of regular meetings with users, the annual work programme and the merits and costs procedure. ECB organizes seminar on statistics for ESCB users which aims to raise awareness of ESCB statistics and enable users to extract the maximum benefit from statistics for policy analysis. It covers both statistics that are already available and statistics under development. During the seminar, users are also encouraged to spell out their requirements.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Views and opinions of users of national accounts statistics can be collected and analysed as one of the tools to 'measure' the relevance of national accounts data.
12.3. Completeness
The data transmissions were complete, except for one minor issue which did not affect the compilation of either the euro area accounts Comprehensive quarterly MUFA datasets are transmitted by all euro area countries on the basis of the Guideline of the ECB of 29 April 2021 (see Annex below). Other EU countries provide the data on a voluntary basis.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
ECB checks internal consistency of the data, performs revision analysis and checks the presence of major events.
For further information, please refer to the ECB Executive summary, chapter 5, as well as section 15.4 below.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
The discrepancies with the non-financial accounts and with annual financial accounts are monitored.
14.1. Timeliness
The ECB Guideline requires two transmissions: (i) the transmission of a sub-set of supplementary financial accounts data at t+85 to enable compilation of an integrated set of quarterly euro area financial and non-financial accounts, and (ii) the transmission of the full set of national financial accounts data at t+97.
All euro area countries transmitted the supplementary data and the full set of national data by the respective deadlines.
ECB releases the financial accounts national data at t+108.
14.2. Punctuality
Eurostat publishes the data as soon as they are received by the ECB.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
In principle, the same methodology is followed by all countries. Small differences may occur in practice due to different sources and methods.
15.2. Comparability - over time
In principle, the data should be comparable throughout the time series. Series breaks should be minor. Wherever series are not comparable, data breaks are appropriately flagged.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Quarterly financial sector accounts vs. quarterly non-financial sector accounts
While from a pure theoretical point of view they should be the same, ESA 2010 and SNA 2008 allow a differentiation to be made between net lending/net borrowing (B9, from non-financial sector accounts) and net financial transactions (B9F, from financial sector accounts).
Starting from a joint initiative of the ECB and Eurostat, and in close collaboration with national experts, recommendations to enhance the vertical consistency of the financial and non-financial sector accounts, as well as to increase the comparability of the country data, were approved by the ESS (DMES) and ESCB (Statistics Committee) and published in July 2022. The recommendations include qualitative as well as quantitative recommendations, and cover all sectors except the general government sector (for the government sector, the prevalence of sector specific guidance is acknowledged, and reference is made to the Manual on quarterly financial accounts for general government). The quantitative recommendations include the ‘target’ to keep in each compilation round the four-quarter sum/annual vertical discrepancy for each sector (and sub-sector) below 1% of the four-quarter sum/annual GDP,in addition to a limitation on the use of automated balancing.
Annual vs. quarterly financial accounts
The requirements for from the ESA 2010 TP and the MUFA guidelines are not the same (coverage of series, starting period, etc.). While there is constant effort to align the annual and quarterly data, this is not always achieved in practice.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Arithmetical consistency and other checks are made on the country data.
Euro area aggregates are calculated by the ECB from the euro area member states' data.
Internal consistency refers to accounting identities and to hierarchical relationships between aggregates and components. This includes horizontal consistency, which is defined as equality between the sum of (transactions in) financial assets and the sum of (transactions in) liabilities for each financial instrument (i.e. the sum of listed shares issued by the resident sectors and the RoW equals the sum of listed shares purchased by the resident sectors and the RoW).
The euro area accounts are not a simple aggregation of the national data, as they need to be combined with other euro area statistics (in particular euro area b.o.p., i.i.p. and MFI balance sheet statistics) to obtain genuine euro area accounts. Horizontal consistency is not generally maintained when all these components are put together, owing to discrepancies across data sources. The resulting imbalances between assets and liabilities for each transaction are then resolved by leaving data from the most reliable sources unchanged and amending data from less reliable sources, as appropriate.
The apparent horizontal imbalances (before data sources are reconciled) in the euro area financial accounts continued to be significant. The two underlying causes of this are b.o.p./i.i.p. asymmetries as well as differences between national financial accounts data and euro area building blocks. The latter occur mostly because national financial accounts compilers may adjust the statistics underlying the euro area building blocks or may use different data sources.
To further specify the general Eurostat revision policy, for quarterly financial accounts, National Statistical Offices and National Central Banks agreed to gradually implement the Harmonised European Revision Policy for Macroeconomic Statistics in national accounts and balance of payments statistics. This policy includes differentiated guidelines regarding the timing and depth of revisions of quarterly and annual data. It aims to improve adherence to the twofold principle of alignment between statistical domains at national level and coordinated alignment across countries at EU level. The policy provides guidelines for both 'routine' revisions and 'major' or 'benchmark' revisions.
National data are revised according to national schedules and policy of revisions. Quarterly financial accounts data are subject to routine revisions as new input data becomes available. Whenever new data are provided and validated, the already disseminated data are updated.
Routine revisions follow national policies. Major changes in methodology are the result of legislation, and therefore announced in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Data are rarely flagged as provisional but may be subject to revision, as new input data become available. Improvements in sources and methods may also be implemented and might not be widely announced. Major changes in methodology are the result of legislation, and therefore announced in the Official Journal of the European Union.
18.1. Source data
Figures are transmitted to the ECB by all euro area countries based on the ECB Guidelines and then ECB transmits data to Eurostat.
Information may be derived directly from the units of the institutional sector for which they are needed, or else indirectly from counterpart information on other sectors. The compilation relies on a variety of data sources, including administrative data, censuses, and statistical surveys of businesses and households. No single type of source data can be pointed out. In many cases, financial intermediaries or institutions are the counterpart, acting as debtor or creditor.
Information in which the financial sector is not involved normally has to be obtained directly. However, in some cases (particularly in the households and non-profit institutions serving households sectors) there is a lack of direct or counterpart information and estimates have to be made. Residual methods (residuals may be obtained after the recording of other items in the accounting framework) may be used for calculating such estimates.
In general, the most important sources used to compile national annual financial accounts are statistics on financial intermediaries, particularly monthly money and banking statistics, and quarterly data provided by other financial institutions. Other main sources are balance of payments and international investment position statistics, government finance statistics and securities data of government debt management bodies, capital market statistics, direct information on non-financial corporations, and surveys of businesses or households. Although source data may come from surveys, the compilation of financial accounts is intended to be exhaustive.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Quarterly.
18.3. Data collection
Data are transmitted to Eurostat based on SDMX, with a standardised coding system and dataset identifiers.
The MUFA templates can be found in the Annexes of the ECB Guidelines (Annex below).
18.4. Data validation
Data are transmitted to the ECB by all euro area countries. Validation by ECB is based on internal consistency and other checks. The validated by ECB data are transmitted to Eurostat which are then republished at the Eurostat website.
18.5. Data compilation
For a description, see ECB Handbook on quarterly financial accounts for the euro area (Annex below).
The euro area aggregate accounts are based on, but are not just the sum of, the national accounts of the Member States. First, cross-border transactions and financial claims between European countries are eliminated from the rest-of-the-world accounts. Second, the ECB accounts are added. Third, inconsistencies arising from the aggregation of country data, such as “asymmetries”, are eliminated.
The national financial accounts are generally consistent with the requirements and conceptual framework of ESA 2010. However, the financial account statistics are derived statistics that rely on a wide range of data sources, which are not necessarily complete or sufficient in terms of conceptual requirements. In such cases source data are supplemented with estimations or residual calculations in order to ensure the accounts are complete.
The financial flows and stocks data are reported quarterly to the European Central Bank (ECB - ECB website - Sector accounts). Once validated the data are transmitted to Eurostat. For more details, please see section 6.
Financial flows and stocks data are often referred to collectively in the national accounts framework as ‘financial accounts’. Financial flows consist of transactions and other flows, and represent the difference between the opening financial balance sheet at the start of the year and the closing balance sheet at the end of the year. These terms are described in further detail in section 3.4.
Financial flows and stocks contain statistical information based on the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) (see annex below), which came into force in September 2014. The data are compiled with reference to:
Financial balance sheets (nasq_10_f_bs)
Financial transactions (nasq_10_f_tr)
Revaluation accounts (nasq_10_f_gl)
Other changes in volume (nasq_10_f_oc)
Financial accounts: counterpart information (nasq_10_f_cp)
The financial assets held and the liabilities outstanding at a particular point in time are recorded in the balance sheet. Financial transactions result in changes between opening and closing balance sheets. However, changes between the opening balance sheet and the closing balance sheet are also due to other flows, which are not interactions between institutional units by mutual agreement. Other flows related to financial assets and liabilities are broken down into revaluations in financial assets and liabilities, and changes in the volume of financial assets and liabilities not due to financial transactions. Revaluations are recorded in the revaluation account and changes in volume in the other changes in the volume of assets account. Some revaluation accounts data are available for the euro area only at quarterly level.
For more information, see also:
The dedicated website for Financial accounts and Sector accounts
The concepts, definitions and classifications are based on the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) (see annex below).
Financial transactions take place between resident institutional units, and between them and the rest of the world. They are recorded in the financial account, which shows how the surplus or deficit of the capital account is financed by transactions in financial assets and liabilities.
The financial account indicates how net borrowing sectors obtain resources by incurring liabilities or reducing assets, and how net lending sectors allocate their surpluses by acquiring assets or reducing liabilities. The financial account also shows the contributions to these transactions of the various types of financial assets, and the role of financial intermediaries. Most transactions involving the transfer of ownership of goods or assets or the provision of services have some counterpart entry in the financial account. Moreover, many transactions are recorded entirely within the financial account, where one financial asset is exchanged for another or a liability is repaid with an asset. Financial assets may also be created through the incurrence of liabilities. Such transactions change the distribution of the portfolio of financial assets and liabilities and may change their total amounts but do not affect the net lending / net borrowing (B.9).
Balance sheets are statements of the value of the stocks of assets and liabilities at a particular point of time. They can be drawn up for institutional units, institutional sectors and the whole economy. The balancing item of the financial balance sheet (i.e., excluding non-financial assets) is the 'net financial assets' (BF.90). The net financial asset is calculated as the difference between total financial assets and total liabilities. A closing financial balance sheet is equal to the opening balance sheet plus changes resulting from financial transactions and other flows (revaluations and other changes in volume of financial assets/liabilities).
Other changes in assets record changes that are not the result of transactions. They are either a) Other changes in the volume of assets and liabilities, or b) holding gains and losses. Other changes in volume include the normal appearance and disappearance of assets other than by transactions, changes in assets and liabilities due to exceptional or unanticipated events, which are not economic in nature, and changes in classification and structure. Holding gains and losses are recorded in the revaluation account, and occur when there are changes in the prices of assets or liabilities over time, without transforming them in any way.
Financial assets and liabilities: Definitions of the categories and sub-categories are provided in ESA 2010 chapter 5.
Time of recording: In principle, flows are recorded on an accrual basis, i.e. accumulated over time. Thus, economic value is created, transformed or extinguished, or when claims and obligations arise, are transformed or are cancelled; the time of recording is often not when cash is exchanged. See ESA 2010, chapter 5.
Valuation rules: In principle, financial flows and stocks are recorded at exchange or market value. For detailed valuation rules that apply to some categories of financial instruments, see ESA 2010, chapter 5.
Consolidation: Quarterly financial accounts data are non-consolidated.
The main statistical units are the Institutional units, as defined in ESA 2010, Chapter 2, § 2.12-2.13. This can refer to, for example, a corporation, a household or a government agency.
The national accounts population of a country consists of all resident statistical units. A unit is a resident unit of a country when it has a centre of predominant economic interest on the economic territory of that country, that is, when it engages for an extended period (one year or more) in economic activities on this territory.
National accounts are exhaustive. This means that all resident statistical units are covered.
The population of the countries' national accounts data as published by Eurostat includes, in principle, all resident statistical units. The population of the euro area includes, the economic territory of the euro area Member States, the ECB, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).
For description of the covered sectors, please see section 3.3.
The financial flows and stocks data are reported quarterly to the ECB. Once validated the data are transmitted to Eurostat. The reported areas are for all EU member states and for the euro area aggregates.
Quarter.
ECB checks internal consistency of the data, performs revision analysis and checks the presence of major events.
For further information, please refer to the ECB Executive summary, chapter 5, as well as section 15.4 below.
Data are disseminated in Euro/ECU, national currency, and as % of GDP.
National currency series (NAC) (including fixed euro series for euro area Member States) are transmitted by Member states and correspond in principle to nationally published figures. They are suitable for studying the development of a variable in a single country over time.
Euro series (EUR) are derived from transmitted national currency series using historic exchange rates. For flow data, quarterly average exchange rates are used. For balance sheet data, end of the period exchange rates are used. They are suitable for internal comparison and aggregation. When comparing them over time, account must be taken of exchange rate effects.
For a description, see ECB Handbook on quarterly financial accounts for the euro area (Annex below).
The euro area aggregate accounts are based on, but are not just the sum of, the national accounts of the Member States. First, cross-border transactions and financial claims between European countries are eliminated from the rest-of-the-world accounts. Second, the ECB accounts are added. Third, inconsistencies arising from the aggregation of country data, such as “asymmetries”, are eliminated.
The national financial accounts are generally consistent with the requirements and conceptual framework of ESA 2010. However, the financial account statistics are derived statistics that rely on a wide range of data sources, which are not necessarily complete or sufficient in terms of conceptual requirements. In such cases source data are supplemented with estimations or residual calculations in order to ensure the accounts are complete.
Figures are transmitted to the ECB by all euro area countries based on the ECB Guidelines and then ECB transmits data to Eurostat.
Information may be derived directly from the units of the institutional sector for which they are needed, or else indirectly from counterpart information on other sectors. The compilation relies on a variety of data sources, including administrative data, censuses, and statistical surveys of businesses and households. No single type of source data can be pointed out. In many cases, financial intermediaries or institutions are the counterpart, acting as debtor or creditor.
Information in which the financial sector is not involved normally has to be obtained directly. However, in some cases (particularly in the households and non-profit institutions serving households sectors) there is a lack of direct or counterpart information and estimates have to be made. Residual methods (residuals may be obtained after the recording of other items in the accounting framework) may be used for calculating such estimates.
In general, the most important sources used to compile national annual financial accounts are statistics on financial intermediaries, particularly monthly money and banking statistics, and quarterly data provided by other financial institutions. Other main sources are balance of payments and international investment position statistics, government finance statistics and securities data of government debt management bodies, capital market statistics, direct information on non-financial corporations, and surveys of businesses or households. Although source data may come from surveys, the compilation of financial accounts is intended to be exhaustive.
Quarterly.
The ECB Guideline requires two transmissions: (i) the transmission of a sub-set of supplementary financial accounts data at t+85 to enable compilation of an integrated set of quarterly euro area financial and non-financial accounts, and (ii) the transmission of the full set of national financial accounts data at t+97.
All euro area countries transmitted the supplementary data and the full set of national data by the respective deadlines.
ECB releases the financial accounts national data at t+108.
In principle, the same methodology is followed by all countries. Small differences may occur in practice due to different sources and methods.
In principle, the data should be comparable throughout the time series. Series breaks should be minor. Wherever series are not comparable, data breaks are appropriately flagged.
