The reconciliation of primary accounting data for government entities and balances according to statistical measures: The case of the European Excessive Deficit Procedure Table 2

This article examines the scope and size of adjustments made by statisticians on source data from public accounting systems in EU member states to reach harmonised statistical measures. The article focuses on EDP Table 2 which shows the reconciliation from cash/cash modified or accrual public accounting to ESA 95, analyses the potential changes needed to EDP Table 2 if public accounting is on a full accrual/IPSAS basis, and proposes a possible way forward for better reconciling the relevant reporting balances. The analysis takes into account the study carried out by the European Commission report on the “Suitability of International Accounting Standards for the Public Sector (IPSAS) for the EU member states”, and the differences between statistical reporting and IPSAS highlighted by IPSASB in the consultation paper on “IPSASs and Government Finance Statistics”.