Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland (GERS): 2018 to 2019

Annex D: Glossary

Accounting Adjustment: the adjustment required to reconcile Total Expenditure on Services provided in the CRA with Total Managed Expenditure. The largest element of the accounting adjustment is capital consumption.

Accruals: the accounting convention whereby an expenditure or revenue is recorded at the time when it has been incurred or earned rather than when the money is paid or received.

Capital Consumption: also called Consumption of Fixed Capital; the amount of fixed assets used up in an accounting period as a result of normal wear and tear, foreseeable obsolescence, and losses from accidental damage. It is a National Accounts concept similar to the concept of depreciation in financial accounts.

Capital Expenditure: includes capital formation, the net acquisition of land, expenditure on capital grants, and the value of assets acquired under finance leases. Under ESA10 it also includes most research and development expenditure. In-house development of assets such as computer software and databases can be capitalised in government accounts provided certain conditions are met. It is sometimes called 'own account capital formation'.

Central Government: comprises parliaments; government departments (including Scottish Government) and the executive agencies or other bodies controlled by central government.

Classifications of the Functions of Government: the functions in GERS are based on the UN's Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG). The tables are consistent with UN COFOG level 1, with additional detail provided for general public services and economic affairs. Further detail is provided in Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses.

Country and Regional Analysis (CRA): the primary source of outturn data on public expenditure identifiable to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions.

Current Budget Balance: the difference between current revenues (including capital taxes) and current expenditure (including capital consumption).

Current Expenditure: the sum of the current expenditure of general government and interest and dividends payable by public corporations to the private sector and abroad. Public sector current expenditure is net of certain revenue items, such as some sales of goods and services by general government. As it is defined at the public sector level, any transactions and transfers between parts of the public sector are also excluded. It includes items such as public sector wages and salaries and transfer payments.

Current Revenue: all revenue raised by the public sector from tax and non-tax revenues except the sale of assets or interest received.

European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA10): the system used by the Office for National Statistics for producing and presenting UK National Accounts. The system is a legal requirement for EU member states reporting economic statistics to the EU Commission. It is consistent with the UN's System of National Accounts 2008.

EU Transactions: EU transactions cover public sector transactions with the EU, excluding those associated with customs duties. It does not include any transactions between the EU and private bodies.

Extra-regio: the part of UK economic activity that is not allocated to a specific region. Extra-regio includes activity relating to offshore oil and gas extraction, UK embassies overseas and armed forces stationed abroad.

General Government: Central and local government.

Gross Domestic Product: a measure of the value of goods and services produced in the UK before providing for capital consumption. It is equal to gross value added at basic prices plus taxes (less subsidies) on products. Alternatively, it is equal to the sum of total final domestic consumption expenditures less imports of goods and services.

Gross Operating Surplus: the surplus generated by operating activities after the labour factor input has been recompensed.

Gross Value Added: the contribution to the economy of each individual producer, industry or sector in Scotland or the UK. It is a measure of GDP in basic prices.

Local Government: all 32 Local Authorities in Scotland.

National Accounts: a statistical system that represents the economic activity and transactions between sectors in a national economy (see ESA10).

Net Fiscal Balance: the difference between estimated total public sector spending for Scottish residents and estimated total public sector revenue raised in Scotland.

Net Investment: public sector capital expenditure, net of capital consumption.

Outturn: expenditure (revenue) actually incurred (received) to date

Public Corporations: a sector from National Accounts consisting of publicly controlled market entities. To be classed as 'market' their sales must be at least 50% of their operating costs.

Public Sector Finances: the monthly statistics on the public sector produced jointly by the Office for National Statistics and HM Treasury.

Total Expenditure on Services (TES): an aggregate used in CRA to analyse capital and current spending of the public sector.

Total Managed Expenditure (TME): a definition of aggregate public spending derived from National Accounts. TME captures total expenditure in the UK public finances.

Who Benefits Principle: the approach used to estimate expenditure for Scotland. It identifies the expenditure in a given year that was incurred for the full range of public services that were consumed: that is, those services provided for the people of Scotland.

Who Pays Principle: the approach used to estimate public sector revenue in Scotland. It is based upon the residential location of where the revenue is raised.