This catalog summarizes the major statistical and methodological improvements to the U.S. international accounts for 1976-2008. Detailed discussions of these improvements were previously presented at the time of the annual revisions, but the discussions appear over many issues of the Survey of Current Business (SCB) for thirty years. This listing by year and subject matter provides an index of these improvements in one location.
The listing is presented chronologically but can also be organized by subject categories related to the major sections of the accounts by clicking on one or all of the categories listed at the bottom of the page. Each year also contains a reference to the original issue of the Survey in which the detailed discussion occurred. In nearly all cases, the references are to the June issues (1979-1995) and the July issues (1996-2008); most of those discussions also contain data on the size of the revisions. The rankings within each year and category are approximately in order of importance and significance with the most important appearing first in the list.
Preparation and maintenance by Christopher L. Bach, International Accounts
Revision categories are:
Goods • Services • Income • Current Transfers • Capital Account • Direct Investment • Portfolio Investment • Bank and Nonbank Investment • Geography and Presentation
| Year | Article | Category | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | SCB, June 1976 | Geography and Presentation | The presentation of the accounts was revised to incorporate nearly all of the major suggestions of the Advisory Committee on the Presentation of Balance of Payments Statistics. The Committee was convened by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to address "conceptual problems in interpreting the U.S. balance of payments and exchange rate developments" and "problems of analysis of the data as presented by the Department of Commerce." These questions had been prompted in large part by major changes in the world economy and in the international monetary system—notably the widespread abandonment of fixed exchange rates in the early 1970s. The Committee felt strongly that the presentation of the accounts should be as analytically neutral as possible and that no single overall balance should be published. The Committee added that a few partial balances should continue to be published because of their analytical usefulness but that several of the partial balances then published should be discontinued. The Committee also felt strongly that the most useful and analytically neutral classification principle for financial account was by type of transactor rather than by type of asset. |
| 1977 | SCB, June 1977 | Portfolio Investment | Results of the U.S. Treasury Department's benchmark survey of foreign portfolio investment in the United States for 1974 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1967-1976. |
| 1977 | SCB, June 1977 | Direct Investment | Results of BEA's benchmark survey of foreign direct investment in the United States for 1974 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1974-1976. |
| 1978 | SCB, June 1978 | Income | Reinvested earnings of direct investment enterprises were introduced into direct investment income and the reinvested earnings component of direct investment capital beginning with estimates for 1976. The inclusion in the income account and inclusion as an offset in capital account recognized direct investors' participation in the total earnings of the enterprise, regardless of whether earnings are distributed to the investor as dividends or reinvested in the enterprise. |
| 1979 | SCB, June 1979 | Portfolio Investment | Capital gains and losses realized by U.S. monetary authorities from acquisitions or borrowings of foreign currencies and sales or repayments of these currencies at varying exchange rates were reclassified to the U.S. reserve asset and the U.S. Treasury securities accounts in the financial account (where they were recorded gross). Previously these gains and losses were recorded (net) in the U.S. government income account. The change was consistent with recommendations in the fourth edition (1977) of the International Monetary Fund's Balance of Payments Manual. Estimates were revised for 1961-1978. |
| 1980 | SCB, June 1980 | Goods | Seasonal adjustment of the merchandise trade export and import commodity categories was shifted to the summation of end-use categories from the summation of SITC categories. The classification by end-use was more useful in analyzing developments in the international transactions and national income and product accounts because commodities were classified by their principal end-uses rather than their physical nature. |
| 1980 | SCB, June 1980 | Geography and Presentation | The former Panama Canal Zone, which was considered as part of the United States from 1940 through the third quarter of 1979, was incorporated into the Republic of Panama with the entry into force of the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977 on October 1, 1979. This territorial change necessitated changes to the U.S. government's foreign investment account (measured at book value) as well as to the services accounts, the private direct and portfolio investment accounts, and the goods accounts. |
| 1981 | SCB, June 1981 | Portfolio Investment | Results of the U.S. Treasury's benchmark survey of foreign portfolio investment in the United States for 1978 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1977-1980. |
| 1981 | SCB, June 1981 | Direct Investment | Results of BEA's benchmark survey of U.S. direct investment abroad for 1977 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1977-1980. |
| 1982 | SCB, June 1982 | Goods | Beginning in 1982, merchandise import data were reported to Census on a Customs valuation basis rather than the f.a.s. valuation basis used from 1974 to 1981. The Customs valuation basis was mandated by the Trade Agreements Act of 1979; it differed by less than 0.2 percent from the f.a.s. valuation basis in 1981. |
| 1982 | SCB, June 1982 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | New estimates of capital gains and losses and of commissions on foreign transactions on U.S. commodities futures exchanges were introduced into the financial and current accounts for 1977-1981. Estimates for futures trading on foreign commodities exchanges were not possible because of the lack of appropriate source data. |
| 1982 | SCB, June 1982 | Income | Receipts and payments of income on claims and liabilities reported by U.S. banks were revised to reflect the greater emphasis U.S. banks placed on market-determined rates as the basis for pricing business loans and the reduced emphasis placed on prime-based pricing. Banks frequently obtained loans at the London interbank offered rate rather than the prime rate, and linked the pricing of overdrafts and intra- and interbank lending more closely to the cost of funds (often the Federal funds rate) plus a small charge for administrative costs. The previous estimation method relied heavily on the U.S. prime rate. In addition, some noninterest income was estimated independently rather than included implicitly in yields on assets. Estimates were revised for 1978-1981. |
| 1983 | SCB, June 1983 | Services | Fees and royalties transactions with unaffiliated foreigners were revised for 1977-1982 to reflect information obtained from BEA's benchmark survey of U.S. direct investment abroad for 1977. |
| 1983 | SCB, June 1983 | Income | The average interest rates applied to average outstanding balances used to derive estimated bank income receipts on term loans was changed to reflect shortened maturities and frequent repricing of loan assets. This change permitted the income estimates to respond more quickly to changing market conditions. Estimates were revised for 1982. |
| 1983 | SCB, June 1983 | Services | Other transportation receipts and payments were revised based on Bureau of the Census information on import charges and related shipping weights, which were classified by flag of ship operator for the first time in January 1980. The flag of ship operator is the key factor used to determine the residency of the foreigner. Previous estimates were based largely on BEA annual sample surveys of foreign ship operators and their U.S. agents. Revisions for 1981-1982 were based directly on the new information; revisions for 1977-1980 were extrapolated from 1981-1982. |
| 1984 | SCB, June 1984 | Services | Legislation under which data on direct investment had been collected--the International Investment Survey Act of 1976--was broadened to include trade in services and redesignated as the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act of 1984. The Act established mandatory reporting of services transactions; for the most part, previous reporting had been voluntary. |
| 1984 | SCB, June 1984 | Direct Investment | Beginning with BEA's benchmark survey of U.S. direct investment abroad for 1982 and BEA's benchmark survey of foreign direct investment in the United States for 1980, the treatment of unincorporated affiliates was changed to parallel that of incorporated affiliates. Previously, less detail by component of income and financial flows was available for unincorporated affiliates than for incorporated affiliates; now, the same detail by component was available for both types of affiliates. The change was possible because, over time, accounting procedures of unincorporated affiliates became more similar to those of incorporated affiliates. |
| 1985 | SCB, June 1985 | Direct Investment | Results of BEA's benchmark survey of foreign direct investment in the United States for 1980 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1980-1984. |
| 1985 | SCB, December 1985 | Goods | Goods imports and goods exports were recalculated for 1983-1985 to record more accurately the actual movement of merchandise. Both imports and exports were shifted to tabulation on a "transactions" month basis, in which imports were recorded in the month in which they were released from Customs, and exports were recorded in the month of shipment out of the United States. In 1983-1985, both imports and exports had been tabulated on a "statistical" month basis--that is, the month in which administrative documents were processed by the Census Bureau. Tabulation on a "statistical" month basis distorted measures of economic activity in both the national and international accounts. |
| 1986 | SCB, June 1986 | Services | The "other" transportation accounts were revised to reflect the recalculations of merchandise imports introduced in December 1985. These recalculations recorded more correctly the arrival dates of waterborne imports and associated tonnage data. |
| 1986 | SCB, June 1986 | Direct Investment | Results of BEA's benchmark survey of U.S. direct investment abroad for 1982 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1982-1985. |
| 1986 | SCB, June 1986 | Current Transfers | U.S. government membership contributions to international organizations were reclassified from payments for miscellaneous services by the U.S. government to other unilateral transfers of the U.S. government. The reclassification recognized the charitable nature of these contributions in addition to their nature as the receipt of services in return for the payment of dues, which was the primary basis for the previous classification. The reclassification was consistent with guidelines suggested by the International Monetary Fund. Estimates were revised for 1960-1985. |
| 1987 | SCB, June 1987 | Services | New estimates of commissions and other transactions fees associated with the purchase or sale of securities were developed and entered as a component of "other" private service receipts or payments in the current account, beginning with estimates for 1981, and removed from various financial accounts where they had been included implicitly. Estimates were based on data on gross securities transactions between U.S. and foreign residents obtained from Treasury international capital surveys, and average rates for commissions and other fees obtained from market sources and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Separate estimates were made by type of security and by country and major geographic area. |
| 1987 | SCB, June 1987 | Services | New estimates of medical services exports were introduced for 1981-1986 based on information supplied by hospital administrators and other private sources. |
| 1988 | SCB, June 1988 | Goods | A new end-use commodity classification system for merchandise trade data was developed and introduced. The new system presented considerably more commodity detail than previously, was more analytically useful, and included several reclassifications among and within broad commodity classes. The new end-use system also incorporated the Harmonized System (HS) of commodity classification. The HS was developed under the auspices of the Customs Cooperation Council to establish an internationally accepted standard for the classification of internationally traded goods. Many countries adopted the system at the time of its introduction in the late 1980s, and in 1989 the Census Bureau and BEA adopted it as the basic building block for the U.S. trade data. BEA developed a concordance of the HS codes to its end-use commodity system and introduced statistics on the new classification basis in 1989. Commodity trade flows on the newly developed end-use basis were carried back to 1978. |
| 1989 | SCB, June 1989 | Services | Results of BEA's first-time benchmark survey of selected private services with unaffiliated foreigners for 1986 and first-time annual follow-on surveys were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1986-1988. Estimates of business, professional, and technical services were expanded to include major categories such as computer and data processing services; installation, maintenance, and repair of equipment; and management and consulting services. Telecommunications services were expanded to include channel leasing and enhanced communications services. Estimates of primary insurance transactions were prepared for the first time to supplement existing estimates of reinsurance transactions. |
| 1989 | SCB, June 1989 | Services | Estimates of education services, as measured by foreign students' expenditures in the United States and of U.S. students' expenditures abroad, were introduced for 1981-1988. The estimates were based on a variety of information on tuition, scholarships, and expenditures from colleges, universities, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the U.S. Department of Education. |
| 1989 | SCB, June 1989 | Services | Commissions on securities transactions were revised for 1987-1988 to reflect the general lowering of commissions that occurred over those years. |
| 1989 | SCB, June 1989 | Services | New estimates of travel and passenger fare receipts and payments were introduced for 1984-1988, which included the results of a new travel survey administered by the United States Travel and Tourism Administration. |
| 1989 | SCB, June 1989 | Services | Noninterest income receipts of banks were reclassified from portfolio income to "other" private services receipts, where they were included as a component of financial services. The reclassification begins in 1988. |
| 1989 | SCB, June 1989 | Services | Royalties and license fees with unaffiliated foreigners, available for a the first time by type of intangible property, were introduced beginning with estimates for 1987, and certain management fees with unaffiliated foreigners were reclassified from royalties and license fees to "other" private services beginning with estimates for 1986. Repairs and alterations of equipment physically exported from, and imported into, the United States were reclassified from merchandise trade to "other" private services beginning with estimates for 1989. |
| 1990 | SCB, June 1990 | Goods | Beginning in the first quarter of 1990, U.S.-compiled exports to Canada were replaced with the counterpart Canadian import statistics, and Canadian-compiled exports to the United States were replaced with the counterpart U.S. import statistics. This exchange of statistics between the U.S. Census Bureau and Statistics Canada eliminated the need for many of the U.S. balance of payments adjustments for timing, coverage, and valuation previously made to the Census-basis data when Canada and the United States each collected their own export and import data. |
| 1990 | SCB, June 1990 | Goods | The definition of principal end-use categories for merchandise exports was changed to assign reexports--that is, exports of foreign merchandise--to detailed end-use categories in the same manner as exports of domestic merchandise. Estimates were revised for 1978-1989. |
| 1990 | SCB, June 1990 | Services | Services were redefined to exclude investment income. The redefinition begins with estimates for 1960. The redefinition aligned the term more closely with general usage and was consistent with work then underway to harmonize the classification systems of foreign sector accounts at the International Monetary Fund for its Balance of Payments Manual and at the United Nations for its System of National Accounts. |
| 1990 | SCB, June 1990 | Services | The reclassification of noninterest income receipts of banks from income to services introduced in 1989 for 1986-89 was extended to the years 1978-1985; 1978 was the first year for which appropriate source data were available. |
| 1990 | SCB, June 1990 | Income | Capital gains and losses associated with currency translation adjustments were removed from U.S. direct investment abroad income and financial flows. Estimates were revised for 1982-1989. No adjustments were made to the foreign direct investment in the United States accounts because amounts were believed to be quite small. Instructions on reporting forms were changed to require separate identification of currency translation adjustments in future reports. |
| 1990 | SCB, June 1990 | Services | Transfers of goods and services under U.S. military grant programs (net), previously shown separately, were combined with transfers under U.S. military agency sales contracts, and its offset, U.S. grants of goods and services (net), previously shown separately, was combined with U.S. government grants. The changes combined various U.S. government military exports, whether by sale or by gift, with other military exports, and combined all U.S. government grants in a single line. The current account was unchanged by this reclassification. The reclassification begins with estimates for 1960. |
| 1991 | SCB, June 1991 | Direct Investment | Results of BEA's benchmark survey of foreign direct investment in the United States for 1987 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1987-1990. |
| 1992 | SCB, June 1992 | Income | Estimates of direct investment income and the reinvested earnings component of direct investment capital were shifted to a current-cost (replacement-cost) basis by adjustments to the reported (historical cost) measures of depreciation, depletion, and expensed exploration and development costs. The adjustments were made primarily to ensure that these charges reflected current-period prices, as well as to more closely align income earned in a given period with charges against income in the same period, as required by economic accounting principles. The restatement of income and capital begins with estimates for 1982. |
| 1992 | SCB, June 1992 | Income | Capital gains and losses were removed from the reinvested earnings component of direct investment income and financial accounts beginning with estimates for 1982. The change was made to both inward and outward direct investment accounts because capital gains and losses are not income (or returns) on investment from current operations but are part of the value of the investments (or capital). |
| 1992 | SCB, June 1992 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | U.S. nonbanking concerns' financial claims on unaffiliated foreign banks and related interest receipts were re-estimated based on the introduction of foreign source data from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Federal Reserve Board. The substitution of the foreign source data begins in 1979 for Canada, 1983 for the United Kingdom, and 1984 for the Bahamas and British West Indies (Cayman Islands). |
| 1992 | SCB, June 1992 | Income | New estimates of dividend receipts on U.S. holdings of foreign stocks were introduced, based on a new estimating methodology that applied updated dividend yields by major countries and areas to U.S. holdings of stocks in those countries and areas. The previous methodology was based on a cumulated flow of dividend receipts from an outdated benchmark survey and outdated dividend rates. The new estimates begin in 1976. |
| 1992 | SCB, June 1992 | Current Transfers | New estimates of personal remittances of the foreign-born population of the United States sent to households abroad (immigrants' remittances) were introduced beginning with 1981. The estimates were based on data on the foreign-born population extracted from the 1980 Census of Population and a 1987 sample survey of legalized aliens conducted by the Immigration and Naturalization Service for 1987. |
| 1992 | SCB, June 1992 | Services | Results of the second benchmark survey of selected services transactions with unaffiliated foreigners for 1991 were incorporated into the accounts. The first benchmark survey covered transactions for 1986. The survey covered primarily business, professional, and technical services. Coverage was expanded by introduction of new exemption criterion and by the addition of several new types of services. |
| 1992 | SCB, June 1992 | Services | Trade in services between affiliated enterprises began to be recorded on a gross basis. The adoption of a new methodology was implemented for both royalties and license fees and for "other" private services. This improvement was carried back to the estimates for 1982. Previously, services transactions between U.S. parent companies and their foreign affiliates had been netted and recorded under services exports, and similar transactions between U.S. affiliates of foreign companies and their foreign parents had been netted and recorded under services imports. This treatment obscured the two-way flow of intrafirm services trade, and as a result, total exports and imports of services were understated. In a similar situation in the direct investment income accounts, dividends were previously recorded gross and remained so. An exception to the gross recording principle was made for interest income, which continued to be recorded net. The rationale was that net interest income, for some purposes, must be related to the corresponding direct investment position estimates in order to measure the cost of debt capital. |
| 1992 | SCB, June 1992 | Services | Royalties and license fees, "other" private services, and direct and portfolio investment income began to be recorded before deduction of nonresident taxes withheld by either the U.S. government or foreign governments. Related changes to the unilateral transfers account were made as offsetting entries. Previously, estimates were presented after deduction of nonresident taxes. The changes, which required the development of new estimates of taxes based on estimates from the Internal Revenue Service and estimates by BEA, were made beginning with estimates for 1982. |
| 1992 | SCB, June 1992 | Portfolio Investment | A new series on redemptions of non-Canadian foreign bonds issued in the United States was introduced beginning with 1980. |
| 1992 | SCB, June 1992 | Direct Investment | A new methodology was introduced to account for equity increases and decreases of delinquent reporters for both inward and outward direct investment. |
| 1992 | SCB, June 1992 | Services | Better source data improved the coverage and accuracy of the travel, passenger fares, and transportation accounts. Partner-country data began to be used in developing estimates of travel transactions with Mexico. New estimates of U.S. international cruise transactions, of interline settlements between U.S. and foreign airlines, and of U.S. rail carriers' revenues for transporting foreign-owned goods shipped through the United States from one foreign destination to another were introduced. These improvements, except for the improvement to rail transport, begin with estimates for 1984; the improvement to rail transport begins with estimates for 1986. |
| 1993 | SCB, June 1993 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | U.S. nonbanking concerns' financial claims on unaffiliated foreign banks and related interest receipts were re-estimated based on the introduction of foreign source data from the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and France. The use of foreign source data expanded the program begun in 1992 to substantially improve the coverage of transactions of U.S. nonbanks with banks abroad. The substitution of the foreign source data begins in 1984 for Germany, 1987 for the Netherlands, 1989 for Italy, and 1990 for France. |
| 1993 | SCB, June 1993 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | New estimates of foreign commercial paper placed in the U.S. market were introduced for 1988-92 which enhanced the coverage of short-term financial instruments. |
| 1993 | SCB, June 1993 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | U.S. banks' claims for 1988-92 were adjusted to reflect the substitution of data from the Bank of England on British banks' custody holdings of certificates of deposit for U.S. banks. |
| 1993 | SCB, June 1993 | Income | New estimates for income payments were introduced, reflecting results of the U.S. Treasury Department's benchmark survey of foreign portfolio investment in the United States for 1989; the results were supplemented by BEA's own research and interpolated backward to 1984, the previous benchmark year. |
| 1993 | SCB, June 1993 | Direct Investment | Results of BEA's benchmark survey of U.S. direct investment abroad for 1989 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1989-1992. |
| 1994 | SCB, June 1994 | Services | Monthly estimates of U.S. international services transactions were introduced in a joint news release with the Bureau of Census on "U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services." The release, which replaced a Census Bureau release on trade in goods, responded to the increased emphasis placed on services by economic analysts and policymakers and the need for more timely measures of services activity. The monthly estimates of services begin with estimates for 1992. |
| 1994 | SCB, June 1994 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | BEA further expanded its coverage of U.S. nonbank claims on foreign banks by substituting counterpart data for an additional 10 European countries plus the Caribbean and Asian banking (financial) centers covered by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) reporting system; these data provide a measure of foreign banks' liabilities to U.S. nonbanking concerns. The BIS data have substantially more complete coverage than the bilateral substitutions made in 1993 and 1992, and in addition, incorporate recent improvements made by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board in the reporting of transactions of foreign-owned banks resident in the Caribbean Islands. |
| 1994 | SCB, June 1994 | Income | Bank income receipts and payments were revised for 1988-1993 to reflect the fact that in recent years, banks usually did not charge their own foreign offices interest on certain classes of interoffice account balances, whereas in earlier years, market practices were such that interest was often charged. |
| 1994 | SCB, June 1994 | Services | New estimates of expenditures in the U.S. economy of foreign embassies and consular offices were introduced for 1993-1994. |
| 1995 | SCB, June 1995 | Direct Investment | Results of BEA's benchmark survey of U.S. direct investment abroad for 1989 were interpolated backwards to the previous benchmark year of 1982. Estimates were revised for 1983-1988. |
| 1995 | SCB, June 1995 | Portfolio Investment | Transactions in foreign securities were revised for 1991-1994 to account more fully for foreign private placements of bonds and medium term notes in the United States. These new issues grew rapidly following a ruling in early 1990 in which the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted Rule 144A, which provided an exemption for these new issues from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933. |
| 1995 | SCB, June 1995 | Services | Estimates of freight charges for the transportation of goods by truck between the United States and Canada were introduced. The addition of these charges recognized the impact of deregulation in the 1980s that opened truck transportation in the United States and Canada to each other's carriers; the growing importation of the transportation of goods by truck as the volume of United States-Canadian trade expanded; and the encouragement of commerce between the United States and Canada due to the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement (1989) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (1993). The new estimates begin with estimates for 1986. |
| 1996 | SCB, July 1996 | Services | BEA introduced new estimates of receipts and payments for financial services based on its first benchmark survey of financial services transactions between U.S. financial services providers and unaffiliated foreigners for 1994. Services newly covered were financial management services, financial advisory and custody services, credit card services, credit-related services, securities lending services, and electronic funds transfer services. Brokerage services, which had previously been covered by indirect methods of estimation, were replaced by survey reported data for commissions on stock transactions, private stock and bond placements, futures transactions, and foreign exchange transactions. Commissions on trading in outstanding bonds continued to be estimated by BEA using indirect methods of estimation because no explicit fees are charged on those transactions; BEA estimated those commissions as the difference between bid and asked prices. The new estimates begin with the estimates for 1992. |
| 1996 | SCB, July 1996 | Income | Income payments on foreign holdings of U.S. bonds were revised for 1988-1995 to incorporate a new methodology which multiplied an average market yield on the current portfolio by the average position estimate of outstanding bonds for the current period. The previous methodology was based on a cumulated income stream to which changes in income transactions from two quarters earlier were applied. |
| 1996 | SCB, July 1996 | Current Transfers | Improved estimates of personal remittances of the foreign-born population of the United States sent to households abroad (immigrants' remittances) were introduced for 1986-1995 with the incorporation of data from the 1990 Census of Population and a 1991 sample survey of legalized aliens conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor. |
| 1997 | SCB, July 1997 | Portfolio Investment | Results of the U.S. Treasury Department's benchmark survey of U.S. holdings of foreign securities as of March 1994--the first benchmark survey since the war-time survey in May 1943--were incorporated into the accounts. The new position estimates for bonds and stocks were carried backward from yearend 1993 to yearend 1984. Transactions estimates were revised for 1985-1996. |
| 1997 | SCB, July 1997 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | Shipments of U.S. currency from U.S. banks to foreign banks for use abroad as a medium of exchange and store of value were introduced for 1974-1996. |
| 1997 | SCB, July 1997 | Services | Results of BEA's third benchmark survey of selected private services (mainly business, professional, and technical services) for 1996 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1992-1995. |
| 1997 | SCB, July 1997 | Services | Results of new annual surveys of financial service providers, based on BEA's first benchmark survey of financial services for 1994, were introduced for 1995-1996. |
| 1997 | SCB, July 1997 | Direct Investment | Results of BEA's benchmark survey of foreign direct investment in the United States for 1992 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1992-1996. |
| 1997 | SCB, July 1997 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | Currency translation gains and losses were removed from U.S. banks' foreign currency-denominated positions for claims and liabilities, and therefore from transactions which are derived from the position estimates, for 1992-1996. |
| 1997 | SCB, July 1997 | Services | Expenditures and earnings of foreign residents employed temporarily in the United States were revised for 1986-96 to include earnings of "undocumented" migrant agricultural workers, mostly from Mexico. |
| 1997 | SCB, July 1997 | Services | Several improvements to the transportation estimates were made to incorporate newly available source data. Census Bureau data on freight charges for the transportation of goods by truck between the United States and Canada replaced the BEA projections that had previously been used to estimate truck receipts and payments. This improvement begins with estimates for 1995. In addition, estimates of foreign-operated ocean carriers' expenses in U.S. ports were revised to reflect newly available data--from a BEA survey of ocean transportation--on the types of expenses incurred in U.S. ports by foreign ocean carriers. This improvement begins with estimates for 1992. |
| 1998 | SCB, July 1998 | Portfolio Investment | Results of the U.S. Treasury Department's benchmark survey of foreign holdings of U.S. securities for 1994 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1990-1997. |
| 1998 | SCB, July 1998 | Portfolio Investment | Final results of the U.S. Treasury Department's benchmark survey of U.S. holdings of foreign securities for 1994 related to income receipts on bonds were incorporated into the accounts. Data for the estimation of income receipts on bonds were not available when other results from the benchmark survey were incorporated into the accounts in 1997. Estimates were revised for 1993-1997. |
| 1998 | SCB, July 1998 | Direct Investment | Results of BEA's benchmark survey of U.S. direct investment abroad for 1994 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1994-1997. |
| 1998 | SCB, July 1998 | Direct Investment | Intercompany debt transactions between parents and financial affiliates that were not depository institutions and that were primarily engaged in financial intermediation functions were reclassified from the direct investment accounts to the nonbank investment accounts, where they were combined with other similar transactions of U.S. nonbanks. Related changes were also made to direct investment interest receipts and payments. Estimates were revised for 1994-1997. As a general principle, and in accordance with international guidelines, intercompany debt transactions of financial intermediaries are excluded from direct investment accounts. |
| 1998 | SCB, July 1998 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | Bank for International Settlements (BIS) data were used to provide more accurate information on the currency composition of U.S. banks' foreign currency claims and liabilities outstanding. Estimates were revised for 1992-1997. |
| 1998 | SCB, July 1998 | Goods | Some packaged general use computer software imports were revalued from media value to market value. Estimates were revised for 1995-1997. Software exports were already reported at market value and required no adjustment. |
| 1998 | SCB, July 1998 | Services | Computer software royalties and license fees were reclassified to royalties and license fees from "other" private services in order to better reflect the nature of these transactions as involving intangible assets and to combine them with similar transactions. The reclassification begins with estimates for 1992. |
| 1998 | SCB, July 1998 | Services | "Operational leasing of transportation equipment without crew" was reclassified from the transportation accounts to "other" private services. This reclassification consolidated most types of operational leasing into one account and was consistent with international guidelines. It also reflected the availability of improved source data--from BEA's surveys of selected services--on leasing of other types of equipment. The reclassification begins with estimates for 1986. |
| 1999 | SCB, July 1999 | Geography and Presentation | The accounts were presented in three groups—a current account, a capital account, and a financial account. Previously, transactions were presented in two groups—a current account and a capital account. The current account was redefined by removing a small part of the previous measure of unilateral transfers and including it in the new capital account. The previous capital account became the new financial account. The revised presentation begins in 1982. |
| 1999 | SCB, July 1999 | Income | Compensation of employees, which was previously included indistinguishably in services, was reclassified to the income account. Consequently, the new income account includes two major components--investment income and compensation of employees. Estimates were reclassified for 1986-1998. |
| 1999 | SCB, July 1999 | Income | Updated measures of the current cost-adjustment to the direct investment income and financial accounts were introduced for 1982-1998. The new measures reflected improved estimates of economic depreciation, based largely on new data on prices of used equipment and structures, and reflected improved estimates of charges taken by direct investment affiliates for depletion and for expensed exploration and development expenditures. Some of the new data suggested a shortening of service lives of equipment and structures. |
| 1999 | SCB, July 1999 | Portfolio Investment | Results of the U.S. Treasury Department's benchmark survey of U.S. holdings of foreign securities for 1997 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1994-1997. |
| 1999 | SCB, July 1999 | Capital Account | New estimates of immigrants' transfers (the value of belongings and other assets and liabilities that immigrants own when they arrive in the United States) were introduced into the capital account for 1982-1998. |
| 1999 | SCB, July 1999 | Services | Estimates of U.S. residents' expenditures while traveling overseas were revised to incorporate the results of a one-time survey for 1998. The results of the survey, which was completed by U.S. residents after they returned from abroad, were compared with the results of the International Trade Administration's in-flight survey, which BEA used to estimate U.S. travelers' expenditures and which was completed by travelers when they departed. BEA used the data from the one-time survey to develop adjustment factors that could be applied to the in-flight survey data. |
| 1999 | SCB, July 1999 | Income | New estimates of compensation of temporary nonagricultural workers in the United States were introduced into the income accounts for 1986-1998. |
| 1999 | SCB, July 1999 | Services | Improved estimates of medical services exports provided to foreign residents at U.S. hospitals were introduced. The new estimates used both an improved methodology and newly available source data. The estimates were revised for 1995-1998. |
| 2000 | SCB, July 2000 | Portfolio Investment | Estimates for U.S. transactions in foreign securities were adjusted to account more completely for large-scale mergers and acquisitions that occurred over the previous 5 years and to align these estimates with the direct investment estimates of the same mergers and acquisitions, especially those completed through an exchange of stock. Estimates were revised for 1995-1999. |
| 2000 | SCB, July 2000 | Income | The current-cost adjustment to direct investment income and capital was revised to reflect revised estimates of economic depreciation and updated source data for historical-cost depreciation and for expensed exploration and development expenditures reported by direct investment affiliates. The updated estimates largely reflected revised prices for equipment and structures investment in the United States from the 1999 comprehensive revision of BEA's national income and product accounts and revised prices for equipment and structures investment in foreign countries. The work extended the significant improvements to the current-cost adjustment that were made in 1999. Estimates were revised for 1982-1999. |
| 2000 | SCB, July 2000 | Geography and Presentation | The U.S. government's assets in the Panama Canal Commission were revalued to reflect prices of the current period. The revaluation affected the transaction value of the transfer of the U.S. assets to the Republic of Panama in the fourth quarter of 1999. The revaluation also affected the value of the assets in the U.S. international investment position from October 1, 1979, when the Panama Canal Commission was created, to December 31, 1999, when the United States last owned the assets. The revaluation converted the historical cost of the fixed assets to a current-cost (replacement-cost) basis, consistent with the requirements of economic accounting. |
| 2000 | SCB, July 2000 | Services | Results of BEA's first benchmark survey of financial services for 1999 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1997-99. |
| 2000 | SCB, July 2000 | Services | New estimates of expenditures of temporary nonagricultural workers in the United States were introduced for 1986-1999. |
| 2000 | SCB, July 2000 | Services | Estimates of noncompensation expenditures of foreign embassies and consulates were revised for 1996-1999 and estimates of noncompensation expenditures of international organizations in the United States were revised for 1986-1999. |
| 2001 | SCB, July 2001 | Income | Bank income receipts and payments were revised to more accurately reflect prevailing practices in banking markets. Estimation methodologies were revised to take account of the reduction in the percentage of outstanding balances that were noninterest earning; the widespread use of London interbank offered rates to determine the pricing of most loans; and the prevailing market practice to engage primarily in shorter term transactions, with short-term loans renewed frequently. Estimates were revised for 1996-2000. |
| 2001 | SCB, July 2001 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | U.S. nonbank liabilities to foreigners and related nonbank income payments were revised for 1996-2000 as a result of substitution of Bank for International Settlements (BIS) data on U.S. nonbank liabilities to foreign banks for U.S.-source data. The substitution substantially improved coverage of the accounts; it paralleled the substitution of BIS data on the claims side of the accounts that was introduced in 1994. Coverage problems precluded earlier substitution on the liabilities side of the accounts. |
| 2001 | SCB, July 2001 | Direct Investment | Results of BEA's benchmark survey of foreign direct investment in the United States for 1997 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1997-2000. |
| 2001 | SCB, July 2001 | Portfolio Investment | Estimates of foreign transactions in U.S. securities were adjusted to account more completely for large-scale mergers and acquisitions that occurred over the previous 2 years and to align these estimates with the direct investment estimates of the same mergers and acquisitions, especially those completed through an exchange of stock. Estimates were revised for 1999-2000. Similar changes were made to the foreign securities account in 2000. |
| 2001 | SCB, July 2001 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | The estimation of quarterly capital gains and losses from foreign resident trading of futures contracts on U.S. exchanges was improved by the substitution of estimates based on daily positions rather than month-end positions. The new source data, based on data provided by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, permitted the inclusion of transactions occurring within the month, whereas the previous estimates based on month-end data excluded activity during the month. Estimates were revised for 2000. |
| 2002 | SCB, July 2002 | Services | Results of BEA's benchmark survey of selected services transactions with unaffiliated foreigners for 2001 were incorporated into the accounts. The benchmark survey was designed to capture more completely rapidly growing business, professional, and technical services, as well to assure that transactions related to e-commerce and transactions conducted by the Internet were included in reported transactions. Estimates were revised for 2001. |
| 2002 | SCB, July 2002 | Portfolio Investment | Results of the U.S. Treasury Department's benchmark survey of foreign holdings of U.S. securities in the United States for 2000 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1995-2001. |
| 2003 | SCB, July 2003 | Services | Insurance services were redefined and new estimation methods developed to remove the impact of catastrophic events on the measure of services activity. Insurance services were previously measured as premiums less actual losses paid or recovered. A major shortcoming of the previous measure was that losses could fluctuate from period to period in a way that had little relation to the services provided. The new method measures services as premiums less expected, or "normal" losses; normal losses are inferred from the relationship between actual losses and premiums averaged over several years. Estimates were revised for 1992-2002. In addition, auxiliary insurance services were reclassified from business, professional, and technical services to insurance services. |
| 2003 | SCB, July 2003 | Portfolio Investment | Results of the U.S. Treasury Department's benchmark survey of U.S. holdings of foreign securities for 2001 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1998-2001. In addition, BEA introduced new methods of estimation for measuring price changes with more detailed indexes of stock and bond prices, which improved both the global measures and geographic allocation of portfolio positions and income, and which permitted the estimates to track more closely fluctuations in financial markets. |
| 2003 | SCB, July 2003 | Direct Investment | Results of BEA's benchmark survey for U.S. direct investment abroad for 1999 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1999-2002. In addition, financial flow and income data were presented for the first time on a North American Industry Classification System basis. |
| 2003 | SCB, July 2003 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | New details by type of financial instrument available from the U.S. Treasury Department's international statistical collection system resulted in revisions to bank and nonbank income receipts and payments for 2001-2002. Also as a result of new details by instrument, coverage of brokerage balances, mostly in the form of repurchase agreements, was substantially improved. In addition, transactions of U.S. securities brokers and dealers with their affiliates, previously included in the nonbanking accounts, were reclassified to the banking accounts so that all transactions of U.S. securities brokers and dealers would be presented in a single account. The reclassification begins in 2003. |
| 2003 | SCB, July 2003 | Services | Estimates of commissions received from foreign trading on U.S. futures exchanges were revised for 2000-2002 based on a new estimation methodology. The new methodology used more precise measures of the number of futures contracts closed and new average commission rates (by type of futures contract) that were charged institutional traders by the largest U.S. futures brokers. |
| 2003 | SCB, July 2003 | Capital Account | New estimates of emigrants' transfers (the value of belongings and other assets and liabilities that emigrants own when they leave in the United States) and more complete estimates of immigrants' transfers (the value of belongings and other assets and liabilities that immigrants own when they arrive in the United States) were introduced into the capital account for 1992-2002. |
| 2003 | SCB, July 2003 | Current Transfers | New estimates of personal remittances by U.S. emigrants living abroad sent to households in the United States (emigrants' remittances) were introduced into the private remittances account for 1992-2002. |
| 2003 | SCB, July 2003 | Income | Coverage of earnings and of expenditures of U.S. residents temporarily working abroad was expanded to include earnings and expenditures of U.S. residents employed temporarily in all countries. Previously, the accounts included only estimates from U.S. residents' temporary employment in Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Revised estimates were introduced into the compensation receipts account and "other" private services payments account, respectively, for 1992-2002. |
| 2004 | SCB, July 2004 | Income | U.S. government income payments were revised for 1995-2003 to incorporate a new methodology for estimating interest payments on U.S. Treasury securities. The new methodology combined data from the U.S. Treasury Department's Monthly Statement of Public Debt with newly available information from the U.S. Treasury Department's international annual and benchmark surveys of portfolio investment. The use of the new data sources removed from the estimation process a large amount of judgment previously included in the position and income estimates. In addition, estimates of interest payments on U.S. agency issues were revised for 1995-2003 to distinguish between interest paid on straight and on mortgage-backed debt. |
| 2004 | SCB, July 2004 | Portfolio Investment | U.S. transactions in foreign stocks and bonds and related dividend and interest receipts were revised for 1994-1997 to extend to these years the major methodological changes made in June 2003 at the time of incorporation of the U.S. Treasury Department's benchmark survey of U.S. holdings of foreign securities for 2001. More detailed price indexes were used to measure price changes of foreign stocks and bonds, which improved both the global measures and geographic allocation of portfolio positions and income, and which permitted the estimates to track more closely fluctuations in financial markets. |
| 2004 | SCB, July 2004 | Services | The new measure of insurance services introduced in 2003 was expanded to include an estimate of insurance premium supplements (the expected investment income on the technical reserves of insurance companies). Estimates were revised for 1992-2003. |
| 2004 | SCB, July 2004 | Geography and Presentation | The geographic groups of the standard presentation of the accounts were updated to reflect the expansion of the European Union from 15 countries to 25 countries. Quarterly estimates were introduced for Mexico. |
| 2005 | SCB, July 2005 | Portfolio Investment | Results of the U.S. Treasury Department's benchmark survey of foreign holdings of U.S. securities for 2004 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 2002-2004. In addition, results of a first-time benchmark survey of foreign holdings of U.S. short-term instruments and negotiable certificates of deposit were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 2002-2004. |
| 2005 | SCB, July 2005 | Portfolio Investment | Results of the U.S. Treasury Department's benchmark survey of U.S. holdings of foreign securities for 2004 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 2002-2003 and new data presented for 2004. In addition, revised results from the U.S. Treasury Department's benchmark survey for 2001 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 1998-2001. |
| 2005 | SCB, July 2005 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | U.S. claims on foreigners reported by U.S. banks were revised for 1999-2004 to incorporate more accurate information on foreign commercial paper issued in the United States. Much of the commercial paper issued through affiliates of foreign companies located in the state of Delaware, often established solely to issue commercial paper as part of an asset-backed commercial paper program, was removed from the estimates because many of these transactions were considered to be domestic transactions. |
| 2005 | SCB, July 2005 | Current Transfers | Updated estimates of personal remittances of the foreign-born population of the United States sent to households abroad (immigrants' remittances) were revised for 1991-2004 to incorporate newly available demographic and economic data from the American Community Survey and refined methods of estimation. |
| 2005 | SCB, July 2005 | Services | "Other" private services receipts and payments were revised for 2004 to incorporate estimates based on the introduction of BEA's new quarterly surveys of transactions with unaffiliated residents abroad. The surveys covered primarily business, professional, and technical services, financial services, and insurance services. Previous estimates were based largely on annual surveys. |
| 2006 | SCB, July 2006 | Geography and Presentation | The geographic presentation of the accounts was substantially expanded from 18 to 37 countries and areas, beginning with estimates for 2005. Additional countries and areas were added throughout Europe (including groupings into euro area and European Union countries), South America (Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela), the Middle East (Israel and Saudi Arabia), and Asia (China, Hong Kong, India, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan). Quarterly estimates for OPEC were introduced. |
| 2006 | SCB, July 2006 | Direct Investment | Results of BEA's benchmark survey of foreign direct investment in the United States for 2002 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 2002-2005. |
| 2006 | SCB, July 2006 | Services | Results of BEA's second benchmark survey of financial services transactions with unaffiliated foreigners for 2004 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 2003-2005. |
| 2006 | SCB, July 2006 | Capital Account | Estimates of immigrants' transfers (the value of belongings and other assets and liabilities that immigrants own when they arrive in the United States) were revised for 1996-2005 based largely on improved and updated population data. |
| 2007 | SCB, July 2007 | Portfolio Investment | Comprehensive estimates of transactions in financial derivatives were introduced for 2006. The estimates were based on a newly developed quarterly survey administered by the U.S. Treasury Department, which had been developed over many years of collaborative efforts among the U.S. Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, BEA, and private sector financial market participants. |
| 2007 | SCB, July 2007 | Income | Several changes were made to portfolio income. First, BEA changed its method of estimating interest received or paid on foreign bonds, U.S. corporate bonds, and U.S. agency bonds to a method based on current yield rather than the yield to maturity used previously. The change removed the impact of unrealized capital gains and losses from the income estimates. Second, BEA introduced more detailed measures of current yields for foreign securities, U.S. corporate bonds, U.S. agency issues, and U.S. Treasury bonds drawn directly from the U.S. Treasury Department's annual and benchmark surveys; previously, yields were based on broad market baskets of securities. Third, BEA changed the method for estimating interest payments on U.S. Treasury bonds by substitution of newly available information from the U.S. Treasury Department's international annual and benchmark surveys for the previously used information from the U.S. Treasury Department's Monthly Statement of Public Debt; the newly available information provided a more precise statistical measure of coupon interest payments to foreigners and eliminated the need to make critical assumptions. Estimates were revised for 2001-2006. |
| 2007 | SCB, July 2007 | Geography and Presentation | The substantially expanded geographic presentation of the accounts introduced in 2006 for 2005-2006 was extended to the estimates for 1999-2004. |
| 2007 | SCB, July 2007 | Goods | Goods exports and goods imports end-use commodity classification codes were updated for 2004-2006 to incorporate revisions made by the World Customs Organization (WCO) to the international Harmonized System (HS) of commodity classification. |
| 2007 | SCB, July 2007 | Goods | The statistical adjustment for revaluing some prepackaged general use computer software imports from media to full value was updated beginning with estimates for 1997. Software exports were already reported at market value and required no adjustment. |
| 2008 | SCB, July 2008 | Services | Services receipts and payments were revised for 2006-2007 to incorporate BEA's benchmark survey of international services for 2006 and BEA's new quarterly follow-on surveys for 2007. Both the benchmark and quarterly surveys were redesigned to consolidate transactions with affiliated and unaffiliated parties into a single reporting system. In addition, detail by type of service activity for affiliated transactions was greatly expanded to parallel the detail available for unaffiliated transactions. The new estimates provided a complete picture of services trade by detailed type of service, which was not previously possible. Services receipts and payments were also revised for 2004-2005 to incorporate updated annual and quarterly source data for those years. |
| 2008 | SCB, July 2008 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | Claims on foreigners reported by U.S. nonbanking concerns were revised for 2005-2007 to expand significantly the coverage of financial intermediaries' claims associated with the issuance of asset-backed commercial paper. During this period many offshore structured investment vehicles and asset back commercial paper (ABCP) conduits set up 100-percent-owned affiliates in Delaware for the sole purpose of issuing ABCP in the U.S. market. The ABCP proceeds were then lent to the offshore special purpose vehicles, which used the funds to purchase other assets. The intercompany debt transactions between Delaware affiliates and their offshore parents took the form of increases and decreases in U.S. nonbank claims on financial intermediaries' accounts. Estimates were based on data from industry sources. |
| 2008 | SCB, July 2008 | Bank and Nonbank Investment | Net U.S. currency shipments to foreign banks from U.S. banks were revised for 1974-2007 in order to account more completely for these transactions. |
| 2008 | SCB, July 2008 | Portfolio Investment | Results of the U.S. Treasury Department's benchmark survey of U.S. holdings of foreign securities for 2006 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 2006-2007. |
| 2008 | SCB, July 2008 | Direct Investment | Results of BEA's benchmark survey of U.S. direct investment abroad for 2004 were incorporated into the accounts. Estimates were revised for 2004-2007. |
| 2008 | SCB, July 2008 | Income | A table on investment income was added to the standard presentation of the accounts. |