ABSTRACT

The international accounts of a country, if they are to serve satisfactorily all the purposes for which they may be required, must include (i) the international income account for the period under consideration, (2) a statement of current capital transactions, and (3) a comparative international balance sheet showing the debt and investment position of the country at the beginning and end of the period. Compiled and presented in this way, they are easily interpreted by the reader, and they also furnish a means of checking one class of data against another that is very useful to the compiler of the accounts. Net income or net outgo shown by the income account must tally with the net results shown by the statement of current capital transactions, while the data presented in the statement of current capital transactions and in the initial balance sheet furnish the information needed for the compilation of the closing balance sheet.