Improving the International Compatibility of Accountancy Data: The ‘DACH-Initiative’

Abstract

Germany (D), Austria (A) and Switzerland (CH) share a long tradition in monitoring the economic performance of forest enterprises by means of forest accountancy networks. The results generated by these networks are a valuable empirical basis for forestry sector statistics in these countries. In the context of international analyses it is common practice to compare results between countries directly, without addressing the issue of compatibility. However, severe biases and even misjudgements may result from such simplistic approaches. These networks have been developed as national solutions, and their results are neither grounded on common methodological standards nor on attuned definitions, so that their compatibility is not guaranteed. The rising interest in international comparisons indicates that existing accountancy networks may well serve additional purposes. At the same time the importance of compatibility, if not standardisation, is highlighted. The institutions in charge of forestry accountancy networks in these countries recently launched an initiative to establish comparable datasets and to provide additional background information allowing a sound interpretation of any differences. This paper reflects the associated challenges, describes the agreements achieved as well as the common approaches adopted, and presents respective forestry financial results. This example illustrates the prospects as well as the limitations of deriving comparable data from heterogeneous sources. Initially, only few ratios are suited for valid comparisons. However, international compatibility could be improved substantially by computing alternative aggregates following a

Analysis of a long-term Forest Accountancy Network to Support Management and Controlling

“…Participating forest enterprises, forest economic research as well as forest politics can therefore benefit from this data (see Sekot 2017;Sekot et al 2010;Filbrandt 2005). There are however several possibilities for evaluation and interpretation.…”

Assessing the Economy of Small Scale Farm Forestry at The National Scale: The Case of Austria

“…The associated challenges and obstacles, as already outlined by the experts of the ''DACH-Initiative'' (Sekot et al 2010), must not be underestimated, however. In spite of the very favourable preconditions given in Austria, it took some 5 years from designing the approach to a first implementation.…”

Forest Accountancy Data Networks as a Means for Investigating Small-Scale Forestry: A European Perspective

“…Stridsberg and Algvere 1967;Rochot 1984;Brandl 1993;Olischläger 1993;Hyttinen et al 1997;Hyttinen and Kallio 1998b;Sekot et al 2011;Bürgi et al 2016). Not even all of these studies refer specifically to accountancy data networks designed for monitoring small-scale farm forestry and there is a tendency to just confront individual results without taking into account any peculiarities.…”

“…National forest inventories and agricultural censuses document many characteristics of the forests as well as the ownership structure within the forest sector but provide no information on issues such as profitability and efficiency. Some European countries, especially those of the DACH-region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), maintain forest accountancy data networks for this purpose (Hyttinen et al 1997;Sekot et al 2011).…”