Functional classification of government expenditure (COFOG)

General intervention by the State Administration

National Accounting Office

Mateo Inurria 15, 28036 Madrid

26/02/2021

12/03/2021

30/11/2022

Public administration expenditure by function according to the COFOG classification (revised classification in 1999, developed by the OECD and published by the United Nations) is incorporated in the SEC 2010 Transmission Programme.

COFOG classifies the expenditures of the public administration sector, and its subsectors, recorded in the operations established in the ESA according to the purpose for which they are used. It is a cross-classification of expenditure operations by economic nature and by functions. It is an important instrument for analysing public expenditure, particularly useful for international comparisons insofar as administrations play economic and social roles.

The classification systems used are those established in the ESA 2010:

Public administration sector, and its subsectors, established in the ESA 2010:

Economic classification of expenditure operations established in the ESA 2010:

United Nations COFOG classification. It has three levels of classification: divisions, groups and classes. The divisions, which in turn are divided into groups, are as follows:

The information covers the public administration sector. The ESA 2010 defines this sector as the set of institutional units which are non-market producers whose production is intended for individual or collective consumption, which are financed by compulsory payments made by units belonging to other sectors and which carry out operations for the redistribution of income and national wealth.

The concepts and definitions relating to economic operations are contained in the

The statistical unit is the institutional unit as defined in the ESA 2010. In this operation, the institutional units classified in the public administration sector and their subsectors are considered.

The examples cited by the ESA as institutional units included in sector S.13 are as follows:

(a) Government units legally established to exercise judicial authority over other units in the economic territory, and to administer and finance a number of activities, mainly by providing non-market goods and services to the community;

(b) an institution or quasi-society of public administrations, if its production is mainly non-market and is controlled by a unit of public administrations;

(c) Non-profit institutions with legal personality that are non-market producers and are controlled by public administrations;

(d) Self-employed pension funds, if they have a legal obligation to contribute, and when the public administrations manage the funds with regard to the fixing and approval of contributions and benefits.

The target population is the public administration sector and its subsectors.

National.

The series covers the period 1995-2021.

Not applicable.

The data are measured in millions of euros.

The reference period is the calendar year.

The collection, processing and dissemination of data on statistical operations for State purposes is governed by the provisions of Law 12/1989, of 9 May, on the Public Statistical Function (LFEP), and the Fourth Additional Provision of Law 4/1990, of 29 June. The LFEP establishes that the National Statistical Plan is the principal computer tool for the statistical activity of the State Administration and contains the statistics to be produced during the four-year period by the services of the State Administration or any other entities dependent on it. All statistics included in the National Statistical Plan are statistics for State purposes and for mandatory completion. This operation is a stats for state purposes and is included in the National Statistical Plan 2021-2024.

Article 125.2 (g) of General Budget Act 47/2003 of 26 November (LGP) provides: The General Intervention of the State Administration is the management centre of public accounting, which is responsible for drawing up the national accounts of the units that make up the sector of public administrations, in accordance with the criteria of institutional delimitation and imputation of operations established in the European System of National and Regional Accounts. In addition, article 133 states: For the purposes of Article 125(2)(g), (h) and (i), public units shall be obliged to provide the collaboration and information necessary for the preparation of the Public Sector Economic Accounts and any information, in the field of the national accounting of public units, provided for by internal and Community regulations.

The preparation and transmission of Expenditure of public administrations by functions is established in Annex B of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on the European System of National and Regional Accounts of the European Union.

The exchange of data between the statistical services of the State (INE, ministerial departments, autonomous bodies and public entities of the State Administration), as well as between them and the statistical services of the Autonomous Communities for the development of the statistics entrusted to them are regulated in the LFEP. The LFEP also establishes mechanisms for statistical coordination between administrations, as well as the conclusion of cooperation agreements when this is deemed appropriate.

Law 12/1989, of 9 May, on the Public Statistical Function obliges the IGAE as a statistical service not to disseminate personal data in any case whatever its origin. It is understood that personal data refers to natural or legal persons that either allow the immediate identification of the interested parties, or lead by their structure, content or degree of disaggregation to the indirect identification of them.

Similarly, Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics establishes the need to establish common principles and guidelines to guarantee the confidentiality of data used to compile European statistics and access to such confidential data, taking into account technical progress and the needs of users in a democratic society.

The data are treated confidentially during the collection and validation process until they are published.

In addition, it should be noted that the Functional Classification of Public Administration Expenditure is a summary statistic in which personal data, in this case concerning legal persons, used are aggregated in sectors or subsectors of public administrations, a fact that prevents the identification of information associated with individual units.

The calendar of dates for the dissemination of the statistics is published in January on the IGAE website.

The link to the calendar of publications is as follows:

The dissemination of this statistic is the same for all users at the time of publication.

However, the data contained in the Functional Classification of Public Administration Expenditure are provided prior to their publication, under embargo, to the National Statistical Institute for the incorporation of this information in the Annual National Accounts of Spain and to Eurostat for validation.

Annual

Not applicable.

The Report on the Classification of the Functions of Public Administrations (COFOG) is published annually

The link to the online database of these data is as follows:

- Functional classification of expenditure in the public administration sector and its subsectors:

https://www.igae.pap.hacienda.gob.es/sitios/igae/es-ES/Contabilidad/ContabilidadNacional/Publicaciones/Paginas/iacogofseries.aspx

- Functional classification of regional administration subsector expenditure. Detail by Autonomous Community:

https://www.igae.pap.hacienda.gob.es/sitios/igae/es-ES/Contabilidad/ContabilidadNacional/Publicaciones/Paginas/iacofogCA.aspx

Not applicable.

This statistical operation is prepared in accordance with the sectoral classification, definition and time of registration of economic operations established in Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on the European System of National and Regional Accounts of the European Union .

In 2005, Eurostat organised a Task Force on COFOG (Task Force on COFOG) to ensure that information on public expenditure is homogenous, reliable, complete and comparable across countries. The results of the work are included in a manual, the latest edition of which is for the year 2019 (Manual on sources and methods for the compilation of COFOG statistics. 2019 Edition ).

In accordance with Council Regulation 479/2009 on the application of the Protocol on the excessive deficit procedure annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community, the Commission (Eurostat) is required to report periodically to the European Parliament and the Council on the quality of the actual data communicated by the Member States. The annual reports provide an overall assessment of timeliness, reliability, integrity, compliance with accounting standards and data consistency.

Code of Good Practice for European Statistics.

Annually, by transmitting this information within the framework of the ESA 2010 Transmission Programme, Eurostat assesses the consistency, consistency and feasibility of the transmitted data. In this process, clarifications are provided to the evolution of the data when it is required.

Eurostat at its Dialogue Visits to the Member States reviews data from public finance statistics.

In general, the main users of this statistic are institutional analysts on certain purposes of public expenditure, trends and comparison between countries (ECOFIN and various services of the Commission, OECD, etc. ).

Not available.

This operation meets the mandatory requirements of the SEC 2010 Transmission Programme (classification of expenditure by division for all subsectors and by groups for the total public administration sector) and voluntary requirements (classification of expenditure by COFOG groups for all subsectors).

In addition, the classification of expenditure by COFOG divisions by Autonomous Community is published.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The mandatory transmission of this operation is t+12 months after the reference year. At t+12 the information for year t is provisional. At t+24 the data are final.

IGAE publishes this statistic on the date set in the calendar, approximately one month before the deadline set in the Transmission Programme.

The geographical comparability of this statistic is with other countries. Economic operations are recorded in accordance with the ESA 2010, which ensures a high degree of comparability.

The series of this statistic is comparable in time, given that the ESA 2010, and in particular the Transmission Programme of this Regulation, requires homogeneity since 1995 (detail by COFOG groups by subsectors is mandatory since 2001, although in Spain they are published since 1995).

The economic operations data collected in this statistic are consistent with those recorded in all public finance and EDP statistics.

It is currently insured.

The costs associated with the production of this statistic are estimated at 166.00 thousand euros, provided for in the Budget of the Ministry of Finance.

The general policy of reviewing data relating to IGAE Public Finance Statistics is to review published data for year t until the last quarter of year t+2, when the data incorporated in the statistical information is of a definitive nature.

In this statistical operation, the data for year t, published in t+12 months, are provisional. Those published in t+24 are of a definitive nature.

The sources of information used for the preparation of this statistical operation are administrative data and economic-financial information of public enterprises classified in the public administration sector.

The information covers the total number of units classified in the public administration sector as defined in the European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA 2010). In particular, the source data used are the accounting and budgetary information of the State and Social Security; standardised questionnaires concerning budgetary information and accounting and extrabudgetary information of each regional and local administration; accounting statements (balance sheets and profit and loss accounts) of units not subject to the budget but included in the public administration sector (S.13); and the General Account of each administration, comprising all budgetary and accounting information made during the financial year.

Annual

Administrative data relating to the State are centralized in the Accounting Information System (SIC) and in the Social Security Accounting Information System (SICOSS). For the other units that are included in the state public sector (state and foundation public sector), the economic-financial information is available in the application CICEP.red that includes the annual accounts, audit report, intermediate financial statements, etc. The economic and financial information required for this statistical operation completed by the Autonomous Communities is collected at the Autonomous Communities Information Centre (CIMCA) and that relating to Local Corporations in SICEL (Local Entities Accounting Information System). Finally, the General Account of each administration is available, including all the budgetary and accounting information provided during the financial year.

The validation process consists of arithmetic checks and consistency with the information relating to the public administration sector provided in the framework of Public Finance Statistics.

The work to be carried out for the preparation of this statistical operation varies according to two types of units, those subject to a limited budget and public accounting, and those subject to the General Plan of Accounting of Enterprise (private). In the first group, the allocation of the expenditure of these units to the different COFOG groups starts from the elaboration of the expenditure operations according to the methodology established in the SEC, starting from the economic classification of the expenditure budget. The functional and programme structure of the budget indicates the purposes and objectives to be achieved with the budgetary resources allocated to the expenditure management centres. The expenditure programmes of the Budget Settlements are analysed individually in order to ascertain their purpose, for allocation to the relevant COFOG group.

In the case of units subject to the General Business Accounting Plan, the functional classification is carried out according to its main activity, defined in its statutes and reports. However, in those units that carry out several clearly differentiated activities (for example, in the case of public companies that promote public infrastructures in both education and transport), the allocation of expenditure to different COFOG groups is made according to the information contained in the reports.

Finally, the unit of counterpart of expenditure in interest transactions, current transfers and capital transfers is analyzed, so that in sector S.13 each transaction is the sum of the data of each subsector, except for the aforementioned operations that are consolidated between subsectors.

No adjustments are made.