How to judge the reliability of provisional National Accounts

It is not only important to produce good quality statistics, but also that the users of these statistics believe that they are of good quality. Therefore, it is necessary that the subsequent provisional estimates of the national accounts show a similar picture of economic performance. I.e. the subsequent estimates have to be sufficiently reliable.In this paper is analysed to what extent this requirement is met, taking into account that this requirement seriously conflicts with timeliness. A computer program was developed to enable a quick reliability-check to a large number of economic variables, derived from the national accounts.