ABSTRACT
The balance of payments accounts record estimates of all international financial and commercial transactions that occur within a given time period, usually one year. These accounts include all interactions between domestic agents (individuals, companies, and the government) and the outside world. Thus, transactions between two domestic firms are not included in the balance of payments accounts. The balance of payments differs from a corporate balance sheet since the former represents flows of transactions over a period of time and the latter presents the stocks of assets and liabilities at a point in time.
