ABSTRACT
The National accounts system began to take its final shape during the Second World War, and, with increasing momentum, immediately after it. The complicated economic problems which the war produced, encouraged economists in the academic world and in official circles to establish a methodological system for the measurement of national production and the national income it generates. By 1947 the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the Netherlands had formulated and put into use complete and inter-related national accounts systems. Before proceeding with the description, and analysis of the national accounts system as recommended by international organizations and its comparison with those in use by some major and highly industrialized countries, some of the basic concepts and definitions underlying this system will be clarified. The flow of consumption in national accounts is wider than the immediate consumption of goods and services by households and governments.
