Non-profit institutions in the United Nations System of National Accounts: country applications of SNA guidelines

Abstract

Based on a description of how non-profit institutions are defined in the System of National Accounts, this paper examines the actual treatment of non-profit institutions in several countries, and comes up with an overall assessment in terms of coverage and data quality. Finding both data coverage and quality poor across countries, we make two recommendations aimed at improving the presentation and understanding of non-profit institutions within the SNA. First, we suggest the introduction of a system by which non-profit institutions can be identified within the system of national accounts even if they .are allocated to other sectors of the economy. Second, we recommend a wider use of satellite accounts in industries where non-profit institutions are prominent.

An Input–Output Analysis of the Nonprofit Sector in the USA and Germany

“…As a result, few countries have in the past collected systematic data on the nonpro¢t sector: among the some 170 countries employing the SNA, only France and Japan o¡er a full set of accounts, and some thirty others report partial information at best. And, as reported elsewhere (Anheier et al 1993, Anheier et al 1992, Salamon and Anheier 1996, published SNA data on the nonpro¢t sector preclude meaningful international and historical comparisons. Signi¢cant variations in measurement, coverage and data quality may either disguise true di¡erences or suggest false ones among the ¢gures reported.…”

“…A closer look at national accounts and input^output data, however, soon reveals that national and international data on the nonpro¢t sector are scant, incomplete and often of questionable quality (Salamon and Anheier 1996). In an earlier paper (Anheier, Rudney and Salamon 1993), we suggested that the inadequate data situation is primarily due to the way the nonpro¢t sector is treated in the UN System of National Accounts (SNA) and related systems.…”

“…The discussions in the course of the 1993 revision of the SNA (see Anheier et al 1993), and a workshop of the National Research Council's Committee on National Statistics on`Improving Economic Statistics: Measurement of the Nonpro¢t Sector and its Presentation in Federal Statistics' in Washington, DC in May 1992, are two indications which seem to suggest that national account experts seem increasingly aware of the conceptual and measurement problems associated with the relative neglect of the nonpro¢t sector. organizations according to the restrictive SNA client/funding criteria (see United Nations 1993).…”