Concepts, Sources and Methods

With effect from 24 September 1998 the UK national accounts were converted onto the European System of Accounts 1995 (ESA95). This change results in a number of changes to the terminology and methodology used in presenting and compiling the accounts. A short description of the national accounts is given in the introduction to the 2007 edition of United Kingdom National Accounts, the National Statistics Blue Book. More detailed information is available in United Kingdom National Accounts: Concepts, Sources and Methods (TSO 1998) and an overview of the move to ESA95 is available in Introducing the ESA95 in the UK (TSO 1998). Details of the balance of payments accounts are given in the 2007 edition of the Pink Book. Further information on the financial accounts is in the Financial Statistics and the Financial Statistics Explanatory Handbook.