Financial accounts and balance sheets are part of countries’ national accounts, which are compiled in line with the international standards of the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA). The balance sheets (stocks) provide a systematic recording of assets and liabilities, by economic sector, at a point in time. The financial accounts (flows) explain changes over time. Assets and liabilities and the related flows are broken down into financial instruments such as currency and deposits, loans, debt securities, equity, collective investment fund shares, insurance and pensions.

Macro-financial indicators can be constructed from the financial accounts and balance sheets to analyse the behaviour and performance of economic sectors and to carry out cross-country comparisons. Commonly-used indicators include financial net wealth and indebtedness, corporate leverage, household net lending, and the financial intermediation ratio.

The financial accounts and balance sheets are used to create ‘from whom-to-whom’ matrices. These provide insight, for each financial instrument, into creditor and debtor relationships (which sectors hold the assets and which sectors hold the liabilities) and into movements between economic sectors.