How to improve the quality of regional accounts estimates

In the European Union, tens of billions of euros are spent on regional policy every year. A major part of this amount is allocated on the basis of regional gross domestic product per capita. Because of the administrative use of this statistical estimate, the requirements for the quality of these figures are very strict. This quality is, however, not easy to specify by means of a confidence interval. What can be done to monitor the quality as a basis for improvement? In this paper an inventory is drawn up of recent work on the quality of regional accounts estimates. Special attention is paid to the instrument of process tables. In the last five years process tables have been developed for the national accounts (GNI Committee) as well as the regional accounts. The focus of the regional accounts process tables is on the treatment of multi-regional companies and the sources for top-down methods. The regional accounts should be compiled in close cooperation with the national accounts. The quality of the national accounts estimates and – indirectly – the regional accounts estimates, could be improved by the findings of the regional accounts compilation process.