Planning for the impending days is a critical aspect of managing any organization. Forecasting can be broadly considered as a technique of estimating different aspects of a business or organization. The success of financial forecasting largely depends on the availability of data. Forecasting enables an organization to develop the best strategies of dealing with future scenarios. It creates a possible accurate picture of the future. There are various useful sources that can provide economic data as well as economic forecast data that can be used in economic analysis.
Historical economic data can be found in two sources namely; U.S. Department of Commerce and FRED, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The Bureau of Economic Analysis indicates important estimates concerning regional, price data, savings, stocks, data on foreign trade, national and international economic activities. Additionally, it provides statistics decisions that were previously made and influenced by individuals, households, business people and government officials (United States, 2010).
Additionally, it includes different divisions of data that work together to foster collaboration between several economic aspects and complete an accurate economic forecast. This source is specifically important and useful since it contains a large volume of information in one place. It eases the decision making process since any data that might be needed can be obtained from a single source. The consultation process becomes effective and efficient.
The U.S. Department of Commerce and FRED record includes population and employment data, consumer price indexes, trade and interest data both from the national and economic perspectives. As an added advantage, it includes labor markets, industrial production, and a handful of information from the banking and finance sector (United States, 2012). This source is valuable because it allows citizens and other bodies that are interested to see how the country is faring in the business arena. The information presented is clear, comprehensive and easily digestible hence any party that needs this information in making decisions can easily access it. It covers U.S. national, ZIP codes, cities, states, metropolitan areas and counties. Additionally, this source provides information that is regularly updated to ensure that the values and figure recorded and utilized matches with the latest trends in the economy.
The information contained in the U.S. Department of Commerce and FRED records come from different sources including governmental statistical agencies and Congressional Budget Office (United States, 2012). This indicates that the accuracy and dependability of the information contained in this source are very high. Government agencies too can use the information contained in the U.S. Department of Commerce and FRED records to make different policy decisions. This source is therefore indispensable.
However, all the sources give an ideal idea of how the data is collected, recorded, analyzed and utilized in making important economic decisions. Additionally, essential breaks in data are attuned to yield a smooth sequence with the use of splicing and other practices. The sources are useful since they provide structural correlations that profoundly rely on expert information concerning the key relationships, interests, and competencies of several actors and groups in the society. Since it is much harder to forecast using structural analogies, the information is used in clusters thus avoiding the divergence brought about by data collected from different localities. The various economic indicators that have been highlighted in the sources cover a broad aspect of micro and macroeconomics and provide an economist with a clear picture of the prevailing economic conditions. As elucidated above, the two sources can be very useful to financial analysts.
References
United States (2010). Bureau of Economic Analysis. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Economic Analysis.
United States (2012). U.S. Department of Commerce and FRED records. Boston: Pearson Addison Wesley.
