The international Task Force on Harmonization of Public Sector Accounting (TFHPSA) works at enhancing the harmonization between statistical guidelines and accounting standards, and at updating statistical guidelines for the public sector. The TFHPSA was created in 2003 and is the first formal initiative at the international level that attempts to harmonize statistical guidelines and accounting. It is also recognized as the forum to provide guidance in the area of public sector statistics for the forthcoming update of the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA).

The Task Force, which is chaired by the IMF, operates on the basis of two working groups (WGs), with WGI that focuses on harmonization of statistical and accounting standards and is chaired by the International Federation of Accountants-Public Sector Committee (IFAC-PSC); and WGII that focuses on inputs to the update of the 1993 SNA and is chaired by the OECD, that also acts as secretariat. The task force membership includes national statisticians and public sector accountants, and international agencies (European Central Bank, Eurostat, International Monetary Fund, IFAC-PSC, OECD, World Bank).

The September 22–24, 2004 meeting of the Task Force is being sponsored by the Statistics Department of the IMF. It is the second meeting of the Task Force, following that held in February 2004 at the OECD in Paris. The intent of the meeting is first to take stock of the progress that has been made with the work program since the last meeting. To this end, it will review the work done by WGI and by the five teams of WGII. The meeting will then review the work that would need to be done in preparation for the update of the 1993 SNA. Finally, it will begin the work leading to an Appendix that would be included in the updated version of the 1993 SNA. The agenda of the meeting is available below.

The discussions and decisions reached during the meeting will be communicated to the Advisory Expert Group in charge of the update of the 1993 SNA, as well as the IFAC-PSC.

If you wish to become member of the TFHPSA and to have access to all the documentation, please contact Jean-Pierre.Dupuis@oecd.org. If you wish to participate in the September 2004 meetings, please submit your request to Mr. Keith Dublin, Chief of the Government Finance Division, Statistics Department, IMF at kdublin@imf.org. The subsequent meeting of the TFHPSA will be held in Paris in February 2005 to coincide with the meeting of the Senior Budget Officers.

Working Group I (WG I) September 24, 2004

Note: Due to time constraints for WG II on the previous days, it might be necessary to start the WGI meeting at 11:00 on Friday.

Note: As part of this meeting we will discuss the ongoing role of WG1, arrangements for its leadership and relationship with other groups, including the IASB and PSC.