The UN System of National Accounts (SNA) and the European System of
Accounts (ESA) both provide a sequence of accounts, at the national and possibly
regional level, describing economic activity in an accounting year. This is the core of
the system of accounts which has been consolidated over several decades of
implementation in official statistical offices after periodical revisions. The central
framework has been progressively expanded and integrated with further accounts, to
focus on specific sectors of economic activity, sub-populations of national producers,
or new areas of policy interest, going far beyond the consolidated representation of the
economy and society.
Today, there is a broad consensus among academia, statisticians, and experts in the
field that the system of accounts should cover information on key sustainability topics.
This implies including measurements of the other two dimensions of sustainability: the
social and the environmental. Probably in the future, there will be a refocusing on what
should be considered ‘central’ to this accounting framework.
Keywords: National accounts, Satellite accounts, Systemic approach, Social and environmental sustainability, Sustainable development.
