In this dataset, almost all OECD countries compile their data according to 2008 System of National Account (SNA).
The link to the file "ANA_changes.xls" is available for users to provide more information on where OECD countries and non member countries stand regarding the change over the 2008 SNA.
The readers' guide gives general information on the dataset and withheld criteria for this dataset.
While debt can have positive implications for a firm's growth as it can help smooth capital investment and production even if sales would otherwise not allow it, it becomes harmful if it is too high. One particularly informative indicator for the assessment of debt sustainability- as the debt repayments will have to be serviced from income generated- is the ratio of debt to operating surplus.
It captures developments in the leverage - that is the amount of debt a firm acquires to finance operations- of the non-financial corporations sector and shows a negative correlation with investment, which is consistent with the idea that a worsening in balance sheet conditions may act as a constraint on investment expenditure.
The higher (lower) the ratio, the greater (smaller) is the risk for non-financial corporations. The ratio is the number of times debt is to gross operating surplus. Therefore, if a non-financial corporation's ratio is 2.5 it means that the debt outstanding is 2.5 times larger than the annual flow of gross operating surplus.
Definition
Debt is a commonly used concept, defined as a specific subset of liabilities. All debt instruments are liabilities, but some liabilities such as equity and investment fund shares, and financial derivatives are usually not considered as debt. Debt is thus obtained by adding predominantly the following liability categories: monetary gold and SDRs (AF1), currency and deposits (AF2), debt securities (AF3), loans (AF4), insurance, pension, and standardised guarantees (AF6), and other accounts payable (AF8). Consolidated data are used for this indicator.
Gross operating surplus is the balancing item of the generation of income account (resources minus uses). It is a National Accounts measure of the surplus accruing to firms from production after deducting compensation of employees but before taking into account payments and receipts of property income such as interest, rent or similar charges paid or received. It measures non-financial corporations' performance in terms of operating profits.
The non-financial corporation sector (S11) includes all private and public enterprises that produce goods and/or provide non-financial services to the markets.
Comparability
Consolidated data are preferred because non-consolidated data depend on the statistical unit applied in the estimation of the non-financial corporations' sector. This statistical unit can differ substantially across countries, ranging from the legal unit to enterprise group. Consequently, countries which have compiled their statistics using smaller statistical units, such as legal units, will have substantially higher levels of non-consolidated debt (including debt relations within enterprise groups). However, non-consolidated debt data provide important information about the total indebtedness of the non-financial corporation sector: by including intra-sector debt, it acknowledges that, apart from bank loans, an increasingly important source of financing, especially during the crisis, may be between companies.
Data are consolidated for all OECD countries, except for Japan and Switzerland. According to SNA standards, a consolidated set of balance sheets for a sector is, first, an aggregation of all stocks followed by the elimination of all stocks that represent relationships among units belonging to the same sector.
While debt can have positive implications for a firm's growth as it can help smooth capital investment and production even if sales would otherwise not allow it, it becomes harmful if it is too high. One particularly informative indicator for the assessment of debt sustainability- as the debt repayments will have to be serviced from income generated- is the ratio of debt to operating surplus.
It captures developments in the leverage - that is the amount of debt a firm acquires to finance operations- of the non-financial corporations sector and shows a negative correlation with investment, which is consistent with the idea that a worsening in balance sheet conditions may act as a constraint on investment expenditure.
The higher (lower) the ratio, the greater (smaller) is the risk for non-financial corporations. The ratio is the number of times debt is to gross operating surplus. Therefore, if a non-financial corporation's ratio is 2.5 it means that the debt outstanding is 2.5 times larger than the annual flow of gross operating surplus.
Definition
Debt is a commonly used concept, defined as a specific subset of liabilities. All debt instruments are liabilities, but some liabilities such as equity and investment fund shares, and financial derivatives are usually not considered as debt. Debt is thus obtained by adding predominantly the following liability categories: monetary gold and SDRs (AF1), currency and deposits (AF2), debt securities (AF3), loans (AF4), insurance, pension, and standardised guarantees (AF6), and other accounts payable (AF8). Consolidated data are used for this indicator.
Gross operating surplus is the balancing item of the generation of income account (resources minus uses). It is a National Accounts measure of the surplus accruing to firms from production after deducting compensation of employees but before taking into account payments and receipts of property income such as interest, rent or similar charges paid or received. It measures non-financial corporations' performance in terms of operating profits.
The non-financial corporation sector (S11) includes all private and public enterprises that produce goods and/or provide non-financial services to the markets.
Comparability
Consolidated data are preferred because non-consolidated data depend on the statistical unit applied in the estimation of the non-financial corporations' sector. This statistical unit can differ substantially across countries, ranging from the legal unit to enterprise group. Consequently, countries which have compiled their statistics using smaller statistical units, such as legal units, will have substantially higher levels of non-consolidated debt (including debt relations within enterprise groups). However, non-consolidated debt data provide important information about the total indebtedness of the non-financial corporation sector: by including intra-sector debt, it acknowledges that, apart from bank loans, an increasingly important source of financing, especially during the crisis, may be between companies.
Data are consolidated for all OECD countries, except for Japan and Switzerland. According to SNA standards, a consolidated set of balance sheets for a sector is, first, an aggregation of all stocks followed by the elimination of all stocks that represent relationships among units belonging to the same sector.