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Accrual basis of recording
Recording basis in which flows are recorded at the time economic value is created, transformed, exchanged, transferred, or extinguished, irrespective of whether cash has been received or paid.
Advances
Net acquisitions of financial assets for policy purposes.
Allowances
See ‘Provisions’.
Assets
Instruments or entities over which ownership rights are enforced by institutional units and from which economic benefits may be derived by the assets’ owner by holding them, or using them, over a period of time.
Auxiliary financial services
Services that are closely related to, and designed to facilitate, financial intermediation but are not financial intermediation.
Balance sheet
A financial statement which records the value at a point in time of assets, liabilities, and shareholders' funds and other contributed capital, and includes net worth as a balancing item.
Capital assets
Term used in the IMF GFS system to refer to non-financial assets.
Capital grants
Transfers of a capital nature (i.e. relating to the acquisition of assets, other than inventories, that will be used in production for one year or more).
Capital revenue
Revenue from grants and other unrequited transfers for capital purposes, including in-kind receipts of non-financial assets.
Capital taxes
Taxes imposed at irregular and infrequent intervals on the value of assets or net worth owned by institutional units.
Capital transfers
Transactions in which the ownership of an asset (other than cash and inventories) is transferred from one institutional unit to another, in which cash is transferred to enable the recipient to acquire another asset or in which the funds realised by the disposal of another asset are transferred.
Capitalised interest
Interest payable that is debited to an asset account and not expensed.
Cash
Notes and coin held, deposits at call with a bank or other financial institution, and highly liquid investments which are readily convertible to cash on hand at the investor's option.
Cash basis of recording
Basis of recording in which transactions are recorded only when cash receipts or payments occur and in which only cash flows are recorded.
Cash flow statement
The GFS financial statement that records cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities.
Central borrowing authority
A public financial corporation established by a State or Territory government primarily to provide finance for public corporations and quasi-corporations and other units owned or controlled by the government, and to arrange investment of their surplus funds.
Change in inventories
The change in the value of inventories arising from transactions over the accounting period.
Change in net worth
The closing value of net worth minus the opening value of net worth.
Compensation of employees
The remuneration, in cash or in kind, payable to an employee in return for work done.
Consolidation
The process of eliminating intra-group flows and stocks from aggregates for a group of units for which statistics are to be presented.
Consumption of fixed capital
In SNA93 and the IMF GFS system, the decline in the value of the stock of fixed assets during the accounting period as a result of physical deterioration, normal obsolescence, and normal accidental damage.
Contingencies
Conditions that may affect the financial performance or position of the unit depending on the occurrence or non-occurrence of one or more future events.
Coverage
The extent to which the defined scope of a statistical system is actually achieved in practice.
Credit
Accounting entry representing revenue, a decrease in an asset or an increase in a liability.
Current grants
Current transfers made between government units or between government units and international organisations.
Current transfers
Amounts payable or receivable for current purposes for which no economic benefits are receivable or payable in return.
Debit
Accounting entry representing expense, an increase in an asset or a decrease in a liability.
Departmental entity
An entity created as a ‘Department of State’ by the instrument (e.g. proclamation, Executive Council order) required by legislation in the Commonwealth or a State or Territory.
Depreciation
The estimated consumption of non-financial assets other than inventories during the accounting period.
Derivatives
See ‘Financial derivatives’.
Economic flow
See ‘Flow’.
Economic territory of a country
The geographic territory administered by a government within which persons, goods and capital circulate freely.
Economically significant prices
Prices that have a significant influence on the amount producers are willing to supply or purchasers wish to buy.
Economic stocks
See ‘Stocks’.
Economic type framework (ETF)
The Australian GFS classification used to classify economic flows and stocks according to their economic nature.
Enterprise group unit
A statistical unit comprising a group of legal entities under common ownership and control.
Enterprise unit
A statistical unit comprising all legal entities within an enterprise group that are classified to the same institutional subsector.
Equity assets
Financial claims on other entities entitling the holder to a share of the income of the entities and a right to a share of the residual assets of the entities should they be wound up.
Expenses
Transactions that reduce net worth.
Exchanges
Transactions in which one unit provides goods, services, assets or labour to another unit and receives something in return of the same value.
Financial asset
An asset in the form of a financial claim on another economic unit, monetary gold or a statutory reserve deposit at the IMF.
Financial derivatives
Financial instruments that are linked to a specific financial instrument or indicator or commodity, and through which specific financial risks can be traded in financial markets in their own right.
Financial intermediation
A productive activity in which an institutional unit incurs liabilities on its own account for the purpose of acquiring financial assets by engaging in financial transactions on the market.
Financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM)
National accounting term referring to the estimated output component in interest charges made by financial intermediaries and in to the intermediate consumption component in interest payments made by the users of the services of financial intermediaries.
Financing
Changes to financial assets, liabilities, shareholders’ funds or other contributed capital that arise from transactions; and, in the GFS cash flow statement, cash receipts or payments resulting from borrowing.
Fixed assets
Produced assets that are used repeatedly, or continuously, in processes of production for more than one year.
Flow
The creation, transformation, exchange, transfer, or extinction of economic value.
Functional classification
Classification of expenses and other transactions according to functions (e.g. health, education) of government (See also ‘Government purpose classification’).
General government sector
Institutional sector comprising all government units and non-profit institutions controlled and mainly financed by government.
Government final consumption expenditure
SNA93 concept that refers to government use of goods and services for the satisfaction of individual or collective human needs or wants.
Government purpose classification (GPC)
The GFS classification used to classify transactions according to their government purpose (e.g. health, education, defence).
Government units
Unique kinds of legal entities established by political processes which have legislative, judicial or executive authority over other institutional units within a given area and which: (i) provide goods and services to the community and/or individuals free of charge or at prices that are not economically significant; and (ii) redistribute income and wealth by means of transfers.
Grants
All transfers other than subsidies.
Gross fixed capital formation
The value of acquisitions of new and existing produced assets, other than inventories, less the value of disposals of new or existing produced assets, other than inventories.
Gross operating balance
In the IMF GFS system, total revenue less all expenses except consumption of fixed capital.
Institutional sectors
The SNA groupings of all resident institutional units according to their institutional characteristics and functions. Five institutional sectors are recognised: the non-financial corporations sector, the financial corporations sector, the general government sector, the households sector and the non-profit institutions serving households sector.
Institutional unit
An economic entity that is capable, in its own right, of owning assets, incurring liabilities and engaging in economic activities and in transactions with other entities.
Intangible non-financial assets
Patents, copyrights, mineral concessions, and similar non-physical non-financial assets.
Interest
Form of property income earned by making financial assets available to other units which is equal to the amount the debtor becomes liable to pay to the creditor over a given period of time without reducing the amount of the principal outstanding.
Inventories
Stocks of goods held that are intended for sale, use in production, or other use at a later date.
Jurisdiction
The public sector units over which the Commonwealth Government or an individual State or Territory government has direct control or, in the case of local government authorities, the government which administers the legislation under which the authority was established.
Land rent
A form of property income and expense that refers to rent for the use of land and other non-produced assets.
Legal entity unit
A statistical unit covering all the operations in Australia of an entity that possesses some or all of the rights and obligations of individual persons or corporations or that behaves as such in respect of those matters of concern for economic statistics.
Level of government (LOG)
The classification comprising the three tiers of government (National, State and Territory, local) for which Australia’s government finance statistics are compiled.
Liabilities
Obligations to provide economic value to another economic unit, including the issued shares and other contributed capital of corporations and the net worth of quasi corporations.
Local level of government
The level of government of public sector units that have a local role or function i.e. the political authority underlying their functions is limited to a local government area or other region within a State or Territory or the functions involve policies that are primarily of concern at a local level.
Market output
Output that is sold at economically significant prices.
Monetary gold
Gold owned by a country’s monetary authorities which is held as a financial asset and is a component of the country's foreign reserves.
Multi-jurisdictional unit
A unit for which jurisdiction is shared between two or more governments, or its classification to jurisdiction is otherwise unclear (i.e. in Australia, each of the public sector universities).
National level of government
The level of government of public sector units that have a national role or function, i.e. the political authority underlying their functions extends over the entire territory of Australia or the functions involve policies that are primarily of concern at a national level (i.e. the consolidated total of the Commonwealth level of government and all multi-jurisdictional units).
Net acquisition of non-financial assets
Gross fixed capital formation less depreciation plus change in inventories plus other transactions in non-financial assets.
Net assets
Total assets less total liabilities, shareholders’ funds and other contributed capital.
Net debt
Deposits held, advances received and borrowing less cash and deposits, advances paid and investments, loans and placements.
Net financial worth
Total financial assets less total liabilities, including shares and other contributed capital.
Net lending/borrowing
The financing requirement of government, calculated either as the net operating balance less the net acquisition of capital assets or as the net change in financial assets and liabilities (including shares and other contributed capital) arising from transactions.
Net operating balance
Total GFS revenues less total GFS expenses and the change in net worth due to transactions.
Netting
The process of deducting one set of stocks or flows from another and recording only the difference.
Net worth
Total assets less total liabilities, including shares and other contributed capital.
Non-financial asset
Any asset that is not in the form of a financial claim on another economic unit, monetary gold or a statutory reserve deposit at the IMF.
Non-financial public sector
The combination of the general government sector and the public non-financial corporations.
Non-market output
Goods and services that are produced by non-profit institutions and government and are supplied free or at prices that are not economically significant.
Non-produced assets
Are assets used for production that have not themselves been produced.
Non-profit institution
A legal or social entity that is created for the purpose of producing goods and services but is not permitted to be a source of income, profit or financial gain for the units that establish, control or finance it.
Operating statement
The GFS financial statement that records the results of all transactions, which are classified as revenues, expenses or net acquisition of non-financial assets.
Other changes in the volume of assets
Changes to the value of assets, liabilities and net worth arising from events other than transactions and revaluations.
Other economic flows
Changes to the volume or value of an asset or liability that do not result from transactions (i.e. revaluations and other changes to the volume of assets).
Output
Goods and services that are produced within an establishment and become available for use outside that establishment.
Output produced for own final use
Output of goods and services to be retained for their own final use by the owners of the institutional units in which they are produced.
Policy balance
In the IMF GFS system, net lending/borrowing less the net acquisition of financial assets on a non-market basis.
Produced assets
Non-financial assets that have come into existence as outputs of production processes.
Production
Activity carried out under the control and responsibility of an institutional unit that uses inputs of labour, capital, and goods and services to produce outputs of goods and services.
Property expenses
Current expenses for the use financial assets or tangible non-produced assets such as land and sub-soil assets (e.g. interest, dividends, land rent).
Property income
Current income accrued from the ownership of financial assets or tangible non-produced assets such as land and sub-soil assets (e.g. interest, dividends, land rent).
Provisions
Accounting term (replaced in AAS 1 by ‘allowances’) referring to allocations set aside from current revenues to fund future liabilities or expense.
Public corporations
Resident government controlled corporations and quasi-corporations that are created for the purpose of producing goods and services for the market and may be a source of profit or other financial gain to their owner(s).
Public financial corporations
Resident government controlled corporations and quasi-corporations mainly engaged in financial intermediation or provision of auxiliary financial services.
Public non-financial corporations
Resident government controlled corporations and quasi-corporations mainly engaged in the production of market goods and/or non-financial services.
Public sector
The combination of the general government sector, the public non-financial corporations and the public financial corporations.
Quasi-corporation
An unincorporated enterprises that functions as if it were a corporation, has the same relationship with its owner as a corporation, and keeps a separate set of accounts.
Quasi-fiscal activities
Functions of governments performed by units outside the general government sector.
Requited transactions
Transactions in which each transactor receives something of economic value.
Resident unit of a country
A unit with a centre of economic interest in the economic territory of the country.
Revaluations
Changes to the value of assets, liabilities and equity arising from price changes, including exchange rate movements.
Revenue(s)
Transactions that increase net worth.
Scope
The group of statistical units that defines the intended boundary of a statistical system.
Seigniorage
The profit earned by a government on the issue of coins and notes (i.e.. the difference between the face value of coins and notes and the costs of their production).
Social benefits
In SNA93 and the IMF GFS system, current transfers (in cash or kind) to households to provide for needs arising from events such as sickness, unemployment, retirement, housing, education, or family circumstances.
Special drawing rights (SDRs)
International reserve assets created by the IMF and allocated to its members to supplement existing reserve assets.
State/Territory level of government
The level of government of public sector units that have a state or territory role or function, i.e. the political authority underlying their functions is limited to a State or Territory or the functions involve policies that are primarily of concern at a state or territory level.
Statement of stocks and flows
The GFS financial statement that records: (i) the opening balance sheet values of assets and liabilities; (ii) the changes to the assets and liabilities arising from transactions, revaluations and other volume changes; and (iii) the resultant closing balance sheet values of assets and liabilities.
Statistical units
Units about which statistics are tabulated, compiled or published.
Statutory authority
An entity established by the Australian Constitution or by an Act of Parliament of the Commonwealth or one of the States or Territories.
Stocks
An institutional unit’s assets, liabilities, shareholders’ funds and other contributed capital at a point in time.
Subsidies
Current transfers that government units make to enterprises either on the basis of the levels of their production activities or on the basis of the quantities or values of the goods or services that they produce, sell, or import.
Surplus/deficit
Supplementary balance in the GFS cash flow statement that is derived as net cash flows from operating activities plus net cash from investments in non-financial assets less distributions paid less value of assets acquired under finance leases.
Taxes
Compulsory, unrequited transfers to the general government sector.
Transactions
Interactions between two institutional units by mutual agreement or actions within a unit that it is analytically useful to treat as transactions.
Transfers
Transactions in which one unit provides goods, services, assets or labour to another unit and receives nothing in return.
Unrequited transactions
Transactions in which one of the transactors receives nothing directly in return for economic value expended.
Use of goods and services
In the IMF GFS system, the total value of goods and services used by the general government sector in production, including use of goods acquired for resale.
Valuables
Produced assets that are not used primarily for purposes of production or consumption, but are held as stores of value over time.
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