Major changes in definitions and presentations are as follows:
- Recognize private and government expenditures on research and development as fixed investment.
- Recognize private expenditures on entertainment, literary, and other artistic originals as fixed investment.
- Expand the ownership transfer costs of residential fixed assets that are recognized as fixed investment, and improve the accuracy of the associated asset values and service lives.
- Measure the transactions of defined benefit pension plans on an accrual accounting basis by recognizing the costs of unfunded liabilities, and show the pension plans as a subsector of the financial corporate sector.
- Harmonize the treatment of wages and salaries throughout the NIPAs by consistently using accrual-based estimates.
- Change the reference year for the chain-type quantity and price indexes and for the chained-dollar estimates to 2009.
More information on these major changes in definitions as well as information on changes in presentations is available in “Preview of the 2013 Comprehensive Revision of the National Income and Product Accounts: Changes in Definitions and Presentations (PDF)" in the March 2013 Survey of Current Business. A detailed list of table changes is available in table 6 of the article.
Published