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Monitoring of final central government accounts

  • The final central government accounts are created based on the state’s on-budget finances data. It contains a budget outturn account, economic outturn account, balance sheet, financial statement and notes.

    The final central government accounts are based on the accounting units’ information regarding accounting and powers, as well as the notes on the units’ accounts.

    The State Treasury will present its proposal for the final central government accounts to the Ministry of Finance by the end of March. The final central government accounts are attached to the government’s annual report.

    Read the final central government accounts from different years >

  • Aiming at the overall picture of government finances

    The total accounts of government finances combine the state’s on-budget finances, extra-budgetary funds and state enterprises (Metsähallitus and Senate Properties), and view them as a single financial entity.

    The total accounts of government finances contain the total economic outturn account and total balance sheet. The income/expense surplus or deficit of a financial period shows whether the amount of income has been sufficient to cover the expenses. The total balance sheet describes the financial standing on the date of closing of the accounts, i.e. the asset and liability items.

    The total accounts of government finances are created by the State Treasury by combining the accounting data of on-budget finances, state enterprises and extra-budgetary funds.

    The aim is to view this data as a whole, as if originating from a single financial operator. Therefore, transactions between the government agencies, state funds and state enterprises are excluded from these accounts.

    Significant elimination elements include:

    • internal rents,
    • assets and profit withdrawals of state enterprises,
    • cash assets of funds,
    • the state’s internal pension contributions, and
    • transfers to on-budget finances.

    Starting with the accounts of 2020, the internal transactions between the on-budget finances and funds will be eliminated with a new method.

    The purpose of the total accounts of government finances is to provide a more comprehensive picture of the central government finances that are under the government’s management. The total accounts of government finances combine data from different financial operators, facilitating easier analysis of central government finances as a whole.

  • Schedule

    The total accounts of government finances are created twice a year:

    • The total accounts of government finances from the previous year are published together with the government’s annual report in April.
    • The total accounts for January–June of the current year are published together with the following calendar year’s draft budget in September.

  • Consolidated calculations – the future of central government finances?

    The state’s service provision, assets and liabilities are under decentralised management by various organisations. The current accounts and statements are not considered to be sufficient to form a comprehensive picture of government finances. One suggested solution is to perform consolidated calculations that combine reports from as many of the state’s financial units as possible.

    Currently, no consolidated calculations are conducted on government finances, but the State Treasury has launched a project that aims to have these performed in the future.

    The project will progress one phase at a time. The progress has been described with the help of a so-called roadmap of consolidated accounting and an implementation plan. In addition to the calculations currently performed separately, the project organisers must decide on the type of information required regarding which organisations are part of the government consolidation and how the various information elements are to be combined.

  • Why consolidated calculations should be done?

    More comprehensive information on government finances is required. The goal of the consolidated calculations is to

    • strengthen parliament’s budgetary and monitoring powers,
    • enhance the transparency of government finances,
    • improve the effective use of the state capital,
    • improve the planning of risk management measures and the assessment of risk statuses, financing decisions and creditworthiness.

     

    An analysis of the requirements regarding the consolidated calculations will be conducted in 2020. The intention is to perform the consolidated calculations based on the results of this analysis.