Glossary – D

Canadian System of National Accounts glossary – D
Term Definition
Databases Files of data organized in such a way as to permit resource-effective access and use of the data.

See also: Balance sheet, Gross fixed capital formation
 
Component of: Intellectual property products

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 10.112

French: Bases de données
Debentures See bonds, debentures, notes.

See also: Debt instruments
 
Debit An accounting term representing an expense (for example, the use of goods or services in production), an increase in assets or a decrease in liabilities. Under the principle of double entry accounting, for every debit there must be a corresponding credit. In national accounting the terms “uses” and “resources” are used instead of debits and credits.

See also: Double entry accounting
 
French: Débit
Debt Debt typically arises out of contractual relationships under which an institutional unit (the debtor—in this case the persons and unincorporated businesses sector), has an unconditional liability to another institutional unit (the creditor) to repay principal with or without interest, or to pay interest without principal. These debts include mortgage and non-mortgage loans, and trade credits.

See also: Gross debt, Net debt, Financial account, Balance sheet, Institutional sectors
 
Component of: Liabilities

French: Dette
Debt forgiveness Transactions where a government creditor entity in one economy formally agrees—via a contractual arrangement—with a debtor entity in another to forgive (extinguish) all, or part, of the obligations of the debtor to that creditor.
 
Debt instruments Instruments that require the payment of principal or interest or both at some point(s) in the future. Financial derivatives are not debt instruments, but an overdue obligation on a financial derivative contract is classified as an account payable and thus is included as a debt instrument.
 
Component of: Financial assets

Composed of: Special drawing rights, Currency and deposits, Debt securities, Loans, Insurance technical reserves

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 26.103

Notes: Introduced with the Canadian System of National Accounts 2012 historical revision.

French: Titres de créance
Debt securities Negotiable instruments serving as evidence of a debt.
 
Component of: Financial assets

Composed of: Bills, Bonds, Negotiable certificates of deposit, Commercial paper, Debentures, Asset-backed securities

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 11.64

Notes: Introduced with the Canadian System of National Accounts 2012 historical revision.

French: Titre d'emprunt
Debtor approach There are two ways in which the value of a discounted security can be determined during its life when the prevailing interest rate is different from the rate prevailing when the security was initiated. The debtor approach is the perspective of the unit issuing the security and the creditor approach is the perspective of the unit holding the security. The first option, called the debtor approach, is to continue to use the rate prevailing on initiation throughout the instrument's life. The alternative, the creditor approach, is to use the current rate to estimate the value of interest between any two points in the instrument's life.

See also: Canada's balance of payments, data quality, concepts and definitions, Catalogue no. 67-001
 
Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 17.261

French: Approche du débiteur
Debtor principle Type of regional allocation in the balance of payments and international investment position where financial claims and liabilities are allocated to the country of residence of the counterpart non-resident party (the transactor).
 
Deferred profit sharing plan An arrangement under which an employer may share profits from their business with all or a designated group of employees to provide pensions.
 
Deficit Excess of expenditures over revenue.

See also: Net lending
 
Defined benefit retirement plan A plan where the benefits payable to an employee on retirement are determined by the use of a formula, either alone or as a minimum amount payable.
 
Component of: Balance sheet

Reference: Guide to the Pension Satellite Account, Catalogue no. 13-599

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 17.129

French: Régime à prestations déterminées
Defined contribution retirement plan A plan where the benefits payable to an employee on retirement are defined exclusively in terms of the level of the fund built up from the contributions made over the employee's working life and the increases in value that result from the investment of these funds by the manager of the plan.
 
Component of: Balance sheet

Reference: Guide to the Pension Satellite Account, Catalogue no. 13-599

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 17.128

French: Régime à cotisations déterminées
Deflation Process of eliminating price change from a specific time series.

See also: Gross Domestic Product by Industry, Sources and Methods, Catalogue no. 15-547
 
Source: Guide to the Income and Expenditure Accounts, Catalogue no. 13-017, paragraph 2.122

French: Déflation
Depletion of natural resources The reduction in the value of deposits of subsoil assets as a result of the physical removal and using up of the assets.

See also: Resource rent. Compared with Royalties
 
Component of: Primary income

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 12.26

Notes: Introduced with the Canadian System of National Accounts 2012 historical revision.

French: Épuisement des ressources naturelles
Deposits Sums placed with a financial institution for credit to a customer's account.

See also: Canada's balance of payments, data quality, concepts and definitions, Catalogue no. 67-001; Canada's international investment position, Catalogue no. 67-202
 
Depreciation Often used in place of consumption of fixed capital, but in the System of National Accounts, consumption of fixed capital is dependent on the current value of the asset, while in commercial accounting the term depreciation is often used in the context of writing off historic costs.
 
Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 6.240.

French: Dépréciation
Direct investment A category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise that is resident in another economy. As well as the equity that gives rise to control or influence, direct investment also includes associated debt (except debt between affiliated financial intermediaries).

See also: Portfolio investment; Canada's balance of payments, data quality, concepts and definitions, Catalogue no. 67-001; Canada's international investment position, Catalogue no. 67-202
 
Component of: Canadian financial assets

Reference: About the balance of payments

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 26.84

French: Investissement direct
Direct investment enterprise An incorporated or unincorporated enterprise in which a direct investor, who is resident in another country, owns 10% or more of the ordinary shares or voting power (for an incorporated enterprise) or the equivalent (for an unincorporated enterprise). A direct investment enterprise is made up of related entities which can be in the form of associates, subsidiaries and branches.
 
Direct taxes See current taxes on income and wealth.
 
Component of: Tax

Source: Gross Domestic Product by Industry, Sources and Methods, Catalogue no. 15-547

Notes: Discontinued with the Canadian System of National Accounts 2012 historical revision.

French: Impôts directs
Direct-use value The value of a natural resource asset associated with its use in economic activity; for example, as a source of raw material. The value of recreation and other non-consumptive uses of the environment, such as aesthetic appreciation, are included in direct-use value. Some direct-use values are part of the market value of natural resource assets (resource extraction value for example). Others are part of non-market value (the value of aesthetic appreciation for example).

See also: Indirect-use value, Market value, Non-market value, Non-use value
 
Discount Difference between the issue price and the maturity value of a security (for example, a bond) when the issue price is lower than the maturity value. This difference is treated as interest and is recorded, on an accrual basis, as investment income in the balance of payments.
 
Discount rate The discount rate expresses the degree to which an economic agent prefers income today rather than in the future. This time preference will vary depending on the agent in question. In general, individuals and businesses have higher rates of time preference than governments. That is, individuals and businesses tend to demand a quicker return from an investment than governments. Higher rates of time preference translate into higher discount rates. In addition to time preference, discount rates can also reflect risks associated with the future returns expected from an investment.

 
Discrepancy (net errors and omissions) See statistical discrepancy.
 
French: Divergence (erreurs et omissions nettes)
Disposable income The balancing item in the secondary distribution of income account. It is derived from the balance of primary incomes of an institutional unit or sector by: a) adding all current transfers, except social transfers in kind, receivable by that unit or sector; and b) subtracting all current transfers, except social transfers in kind, payable by that unit or sector. For households, this is the income that can be used for final consumption expenditure and saving. For non-financial corporations and financial corporations, disposable income is income not distributed to owners of equity remaining after taxes on income are paid. Disposable income is an important balancing item in the accounts since it shows how much can be consumed without the need to run down assets or incur liabilities. It thus corresponds to the economic theoretical concept of income.

See also: Institutional sectors; Canada's balance of payments, data quality, concepts and definitions, Catalogue no. 67-001
 
Component of: Primary income

Reference: Personal disposable income

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraphs 8.20, 2.97, 16.14

French: Revenu disponible
Disposition The disposition of a good or service is the sum of its intermediate consumption (by all sectors) and its final consumption expenditure, gross fixed capital formation (by all sectors), Government current expenditure on goods and services, exports and net additions to inventories. In the supply-use tables, disposition shows the use of goods and services by product and by type of use: intermediate consumption by industry, final consumption, gross capital formation, exports as well as net additions to inventories. Supply-use tables are compiled according to a modified basic price concept commonly called “producer value”.

See also: Institutional sectors
 
Reference: Guide to the Income and Expenditure Accounts, Catalogue no. 13-017

French: Utilisation
Dividends A form of investment income to which shareholders become entitled as a result of placing funds at the disposal of corporations. Raising equity capital through the issue of shares is an alternative to borrowing as a way of raising funds. In contrast to loan capital, however, equity capital does not give rise to a liability that is fixed in monetary terms and it does not entitle the holders of shares of a corporation to a fixed or predetermined income. Dividends are considered property income in the Canadian System of National Accounts and the System of National Accounts 2008.

See also: Property income, Guide to the Income and Expenditure Accounts, Catalogue no. 13-017
 
Component of: Investment income

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 7.128

French: Dividendes
Domestic supply of tourism commodities See tourism domestic supply.

See also: Guide to the National Tourism Indicators, Catalogue no. 13-594, Canadian tourism satellite account, 2004
 
Double deflation A method whereby gross value-added is measured at constant prices by subtracting intermediate consumption at constant prices from output at constant prices.
 
Double entry accounting For an institutional unit or sector, national accounting is based on the principle of double entry, as in business accounting. Each transaction must be recorded twice, once as a resource (or a change in liabilities) and once as a use (or a change in assets). The total of transactions recorded as resources or changes in liabilities and the total of transactions recorded as uses or changes in assets must be equal, thus permitting a check of the consistency of the accounts. Economic flows that are not transactions have their counterpart directly as changes in net worth.
 
Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 2.50

French: Comptabilité en partie double
Drainage area A geographic unit that is part of the Standard Drainage Area Classification. Drainage areas are delineated by boundaries that usually follow heights of land. In many cases a drainage area is also a drainage basin, i.e., an area of land in which all contributing surface waters share the same drainage outlet. However drainage areas will often include two or more drainage basins, islands and/or adjacent areas draining to shorelines or they may be only a part of larger drainage basin. In this way, all of Canada's area can be classified by drainage area at multiple hierarchical levels.

See also: About the environmental and resource accounts
 
Durable goods A durable good is one that may be used repeatedly or continuously for production or consumption over a period of more than a year, assuming a normal or average rate of physical usage. The distinction between durable and non-durable goods is not based on physical durability as such. Instead, the distinction is based on whether the goods can be used once only for purposes of production or consumption or whether they can be used repeatedly, or continuously. For example, coal is a highly durable good in a physical sense, but it can be burnt only once.
 
Component of: Final demand, Gross fixed capital formation, Non-financial assets

Reference: Gross Domestic Product by Industry, Sources and Methods, Catalogue no. 15-547

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 9.42

French: Biens durables
Durable manufacturing industries Includes manufacturers of durable goods, such as wood products, furniture and fixtures, primary metals, machinery and equipment, transportation equipment, electrical and electrical products, non-metallic mineral products, and miscellaneous manufacturing products.

See also: Institutional sectors, Gross Domestic Product by Industry, Sources and Methods, Catalogue no. 15-547
 
Dwelling Buildings, or designated parts of buildings, that are used entirely or primarily as residences, including any associated structures, such as garages, and all permanent fixtures customarily installed in residences. Houseboats, barges, mobile homes and caravans used as principal residences of households are also included, as are public monuments identified primarily as dwellings.

See also: Capital formation
 
Component of: Fixed assets

Reference: Gross Domestic Product by Industry, Sources and Methods, Catalogue no. 15-547

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 10.68

French: Logement
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