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Over the last few years the CSO has produced several information notes to provide more detail on various aspects of the International Accounts. These notes (listed below) are designed to give some insight into the preparation of the accounts and contribute to an understanding of areas of interest within International Accounts including information on the effects of globalisation, foreign direct investment and methods for measuring trade. 

More detailed information on classifications and methodology can be found in the Background Notes. For a basic guide to the International Accounts see International Accounts Explained.

Globalisation

A Modified Current Account Balance for Ireland 2008-2018
Ireland is a good case study of the effects of globalisation on a country’s national economic statistics due to its status as a small and open economy with a high concentration of multinational enterprises. [Continue Reading]

Redomiciled PLCs in the Irish Balance of Payments 2018
Beginning in 2008, in reaction to proposed changes to corporate tax rate changes in the United Kingdom and the United States, a number of multinational corporations relocated their group headquarters to Ireland. [Continue Reading]

Event: Seminar on Sector Accounts & Globalisation, January 2020
The CSO seminar on Sector Accounts and Globalisation examined the annual Institutional Sector Accounts 2018 published in November 2019, and what they tell us about globalisation in Ireland. The 2018 accounts provide new analysis on foreign and domestic corporations, from their output and value added down to their balance sheets. Presentations and videos from the event are available on the CSO website. [Find out more]

Trade

Explaining Overseas Tourism Expenditure across CSO Publications
The figures for tourism expenditure by non-residents in Ireland and by Irish residents abroad vary across CSO publications. The Tourism and Travel release, International Accounts and National Accounts each provide slightly different figures for overseas tourism and travel due to the variation in methodologies. [Continue Reading]

Ireland's Current Account with the US
Ireland’s current account with the US is built on three main components; trade of merchandise, trade of services and primary income inflows and outflows from investment. The following research note will analyse and highlight key aspects and trends arising from Ireland's trade of merchandise, services and income with the US between the years 2012 and 2018. [Continue Reading]

Explaining Ireland's Trade Balance
The balance of trade is the difference between the value of all the goods and services a country exports and the goods and services it imports over a certain period. In this publication, we take two measurements for Ireland’s trade in goods and services based on data available in the CSO. [Continue Reading]

Explaining Goods Exports and Imports 2012-2016
The purpose of this note is to quantify and explain the range of adjustments taking the goods data from a cross-border International Trade basis to an ownership basis in Irish Balance of Payments (BOP) and the National Accounts. [Continue Reading]

Consistency of Treatment of R&D in the National Accounts and the Balance of Payments
Under ESA 2010, R&D expenditure is recognised as investment and is included as gross fixed capital formation in the national accounts, adding to a country’s capital stock. [Continue Reading]

Moving to a Transfer of Economic Ownership Basis for Trade in Aircraft
In 2010, amendments to Eurostat legislation governing International Trade in Goods incorporated the “economic ownership” concept for trade in aircraft, aligning their treatment in goods statistics with the concepts for transfer of ownership set out in the standards for National Accounts. [Continue Reading]

Contract Manufacturing Information Notice (PDF 507KB)
The National Accounts and Balance of Payments present data on exports and imports of goods and services. These series include adjustments to the primary data sourced from the International Trade monthly series of imports and exports of goods. Continue Reading: Contract Manufacturing Information Notice (PDF 516KB)

Income & Investment

Two Methods of Measuring Foreign Direct Investment
This publication is intended to supplement the CSO’s current publications on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Ireland and explain any differences found between FDI figures published by the CSO or other international organisations. [Continue Reading]

Trends in Net Factor Income
This note explains the trends and components driving net factor income, and the influence which these statistics have on national income figures. [Continue Reading]

Explaining Ireland's FDI Asymmetry with the United States
Due to the increasingly complex nature of world economic activity, differences in the measurement of the same foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics arise between National Statistics Institutes (NSIs). These differences are called asymmetries. [Continue Reading]

Financial Accounts

National Balance Sheet for Ireland 2015
This information note brings together the existing publications on Institutional Sector Accounts and Estimates of Capital Stock, by combining market values of the financial and produced non-financial assets of Ireland to provide a measure of the nation’s wealth. [Continue Reading]

Measuring Shadow Banking in the Irish National Accounts
The importance of the financial sector and its constituent parts has been reinforced by the recent financial crisis. This note provides more disaggregated data on the subsectors of the financial sector in Ireland, and provides estimates of shadow banking activity. [Continue Reading]