Flow of funds accounts are a system of interrelated balance sheets for a nation, calculated periodically. There are two types of balance sheets: those showing The sectors and instruments are listed below. These balance sheets measure levels of assets and liabilities. From each balance sheet a corresponding flows statement can be derived by subtracting the levels data for the preceding period from the data for the current period. (In the statistical analysis of time series, this operation is known as "first differencing.") The change in a level item between two adjacent periods is known as a "fund flow"; hence the name for these accounts.

Main topics covered in the FF accounts

Organization of the flow of funds accounts of the US

The flow of funds (FOF) accounts of the United States are prepared by the Flow of Funds section of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and are published quarterly in a publication called the Z.1 Statistical Release. Current and historical releases available in PDF, CSV, or XML format. Data frequency is annual from yearend 1945 and quarterly beginning in 1952Q1. Detailed interactive documentation is also available. The flow of funds accounts follow naturally from double-entry bookkeeping; every financial asset is also a liability of some domestic or foreign human entity. A fundamental fact about any economic sector is its balance sheet, a breakdown of its physical and financial assets, and of its liabilities. The only physical assets noted in the FF accounts are those of private nonfinancial sectors.

Broad structure of the US economy

Nonfinancial sectors: Financial sector:

Firms

• Federal Reserve System • Depository institutions: • * US chartered commercial banks • * Branch offices of foreign banks • * Bank holding companies • * Banks in US possessions • * Thrifts • * Credit unions • Property-casualty insurance • Life insurance • Pension funds: • * Federal government • * State & local government • * Private employers • Money market funds • Other open-ended mutual funds • Exchange-traded funds & closed-end funds • Government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) • Federal mortgage pools • Issuers of asset-backed securities • Finance companies • Real estate investment trusts • Security brokers & dealers • Funding corporations

Instruments (asset types)

• Official reserve assets • Treasury currency and SDRs • American-owned deposits in other countries • Net interbank transactions • Checkable deposits & Fed currency • Time & savings deposits • Money market fund shares • Federal funds & Repos • Privately issued short-term paper • Treasury securities • Agency & GSE-backed securities • Municipal bonds & related debt • Corporate & foreign bonds • Corporate equities • Mutual fund shares • Mortgages: • * Home (single family residence) • * Multifamily residence • * Commercial • * Farm • Consumer credit • Other bank loans • Trade credit • Security credit • Other loans & advances • Reserves of life insurance companies & pension funds • Taxes payable • Proprietors' equity in unincorporated firms • Miscellaneous financial assets

Organisation of the flow of funds accounts of the UK

The UK flow of funds accounts are prepared by the Office for National Statistics in a series of matrices. The first tables will be published in Blue Book 2014, to be released in September 2014. They contain the sectors and instruments shown below:

Sectors

Financial Instruments

Monetary Gold and Special Drawing Rights Currency and Deposits Debt securities Loans Equity and investment fund shares/units Insurance technical reserves Financial derivates and employee stock options Other accounts payable / receivable