OECD Quarterly National Accounts provide comparable macroeconomic data for countries on a quarterly basis. They are more timely than annual accounts and have a very important role in economic policy making.

They provide timely indicators of economic developments and enable detailed analysis of the behaviour of economies around turning points in the business cycle. Annual accounts tend to hide the pattern of growth around turning points because peaks or troughs in economic activity generally cut across years.

Quarterly national accounts (QNA) feed directly into OECD's modelling, forecasting and analytical work and are widely used by outside researchers for the same purpose. They are, however, less detailed than annual accounts and not all series are available for all Member countries.

QNA are collected from countries on the basis of a standard questionnaire for European Member countries and on the basis of countries'own definitions and classifications for non-European Member countries. Most countries' quarterly accounts are now consistent with the 1993 System of National Accounts (1993 SNA).

OECD quarterly national accounts comprise some area totals and a set of volume and price indices as well as time series from countries' quarterly national accounts for the following accounts :

- GDP by type of expenditure, by cost structure and by industry
- Gross fixed capital formation by product and by institutional sector
- Components of disposable income
- Saving and net lending/borrowing

A free, monthly updated, selection of key series  is available; see also our publications .