ECONOMY AND FINANCE

There is no doubt that Economy and Finance play a prominent role in the development of modern societies. They can generate growth, distribute wealth and ensure well-being, provided that they are both properly evaluated and steered. Economic and financial statistics offer policy-makers a set of tools for this purpose, helping them to represent data, track and store information, identify trends and attribute value for a thorough evaluation of economic and financial policies.

The range of short-term and structural indicators currently offered by economic and financial statistic has never been so broad; it comes from a variety of different sources and includes: national accounts, government finance, exchange rates and interest rates, consumer prices, the balance of payments, etc.

Sogeti provides statistical consultancy on Economy and Finance at both national (Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, etc.) and EU level (Eurostat, the European Space Agency (ESA), etc.) Besides having its in-house team of experts, Sogeti is also part of a network of international recognized academics and experts in Economy and Finance.

Sogeti expertise in Economy and Finance concerns mostly Price Statistics, National Accounts and Public Finance Statistics. If the experience gathered on Price Statistics is mostly related to the European Statistical System, within the framework on National Accounts and Public Finance Sogeti has also carried out works in Third countries, mostly in the Balkans: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, etc.  Within the domain of both Price Statistics and National Accounts, Sogeti’s clients include Eurostat, the European Space Agency as well as National Statistical Institutes and other members of the European Statistical Systems.

Thanks to the experience gathered over the last ten years, our in-house team of experts is able to carry out activities of a wide scope and has already proved sound experience in providing:

• Methodological support (assistance to the implementation of internationally recognized standards, revision of guidelines and handbooks, etc.);
• Capacity building (support to modernization of institutions, implementation of new policies and recognised international standards, etc.);
• Trainings (hands on session, workshops, etc.);
• Data collection and validation (survey design and implementation, development of validation tools, etc.)

Within the framework of Price Statistics, Sogeti is currently working on Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) for hospital services as a contractor for Eurostat. This project is carried out within the context of the work done to establish PPPs for three basic headings related to health expenditures, namely: general hospitals, other hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities. In accordance with the definitions, concepts, classifications and accounting rules of the European System of National and Regional Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010), basic headings are the lowest level of aggregation at which products are sampled and product prices collected in order to calculate PPPs. The main activities included in this project, which involves 37 countries and includes ten missions, are: (1) the establishment of the final survey list of case types with detailed definitions, (2) the definition of survey guidelines, (3) the provision of support to countries for the collection of prices, (4) data validation with Quaranta tables and other tools, and (5) assistance to Eurostat for improvements on the PPPs methodology on hospital services.

For the Statistical Office of the European Union, Sogeti is also compiling and comparing information on salaries and benefits of international civil servants. This project includes methodological assistance on job matching techniques as well as data collection and analysis. In addition, Sogeti is involved in the development of Owner Occupied Housing indices in a two-year project carried out for Eurostat. This mainly consists of technical assistance to National Statistical Offices for the development and compilation of real estate indicators and includes support for the organisation of two workshops on housing statistics.

Since 2003, Sogeti assists the European Space Agency on a long-term project consisting of data and meta-data collection for the production of the monthly bulletin named: “National price and Salary Statistics Expressed in Euro”.

Within the scope of National Accounts and Public Finance statistics, Sogeti recently assisted Bosnia and Herzegovina in compiling accounting data according to the standard of the European System of National and Regional Accounts 95 (ESA 95). Consisting of capacity building, this project aimed at converting budget flow and stock items into ESA 95 compatible terms and included technical assistance and trainings. In the recent past, Sogeti also assisted the National Bank of Belgium in the implementation of the ESA 2010, providing the client both methodological support and technical assistance.

Between 2008 and 2012, Sogeti was involved in several projects regarding the European System of National and Regional Accounts 95 as a contractor for Eurostat. In particular, Sogeti: (1) drafted the Revised Handbook on Quarterly National Accounts, (2) carried out the revision of chapters 1 to 12 of the Manual on ESA 95, (3) contributed to the clarifications on the links between non-financial and financial accounts of ESA 95 and (4) participated to the inter-Secretariat Working Group on National Accounts (ISWGNA) work – distributive transactions and pensions.