Measuring the economy's output and use of Financial Intermediation Services Indirectly Measured (FISIM) has been the subject of refinements in every revision of the SNA since 1968. The 2008 SNA observes that the production of financial services is the result of financial intermediation, financial risk management, liquidity transformation or auxiliary financial activities. However, there is a broad international consensus that aspects of the 2008 SNA recommendations on FISIM need to be clarified or further investigated. These include:

How the composition of the services that FISIM covers (particularly risk management and liquidity transformation) affects the selection of the reference rate and the price and volume breakdown of FISIM,

The financial instrument and unit scope of FISIM, and

The connection between the recommendations on implementation of FISIM and the definition of income.

The first item represents a clarification issue and the second and third items research issues. The ISWGNA, according to its terms of reference, established a Task Force on FISIM to address the clarification. The research issues will be addressed at a later stage. In particular, the Task Force will focus on determining at most one reference rate per currency for the FISIM calculation.

The 2008 SNA does not fully address the recording of tradable emission permits. The AEG at its last meeting in November 2008 discussed the issue and recommended forming a Task Force to consider the treatment of emission allowances and permits in the national accounts. The Task Force was established by the OECD and Eurostat under the auspices of the ISWGNA.