The nature of globalisation and its manifestations have been extensively discussed and are now well understood. However, it is less clear how compilers of National Accounts and other Macro economic statistics should respond to the challenges posed.

This paper will discuss the strategy and experiences so far of Ireland's Central Statistics Office in establishing a Large Cases Unit in late 2009. The CSO's objective was to build on and further develop the work of the Consistency Unit which existed since the mid 1990s. The focus of the Large Cases Unit is on all aspects of the activities of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) operating in Ireland, in particular data collection.

Recent work of the Unit covering matters such as the use of Unit Value indices or Producer Price Indices for deflation, appropriate strategies for the identification of trading arrangements such as Merchanting and Goods for Processing (which have received considerable attention in the recent SNA 2008 and BPM6) are discussed.

An approach to collecting data from these MNCs covering all aspects of Industry and Services Statistics, Prices Statistics and Balance of Payments Statistics is outlined and the integration of this survey data with administrative data covering International Trade, Corporation Tax and Profits for MNCs is discussed.

The paper concludes with an assessment of progress to date and future plans.

Keywords: Globalisation; National Accounts; Consistency; Multi National Enterprises

Biography: Michael Connolly is Head of the Integration and Large Cases Division in National Accounts Department of CSO Ireland. He holds a masters degree in economics and is a member of the Society of Investment Professionals (UK) (ASIP).