National Accounting, Governmental Accounting and Cross-country Comparisons of Government Financial Condition

The assessment of the financial condition of governments within the European Monetary Union is based on the 'Deficit-to-GDP' and the 'Debt-to-GDP' ratios. Reliable judgements and cross-national comparisons require reconciliation of national accounting and governmental accounting as well as a certain degree of transnational standardisation of governmental accounting. Recent and current developments of national accounting and governmental accounting systems have not considered these aspects and have therefore contributed, whether deliberately or not, to a questioning of the usefulness of the above-mentioned ratios.