Glossary – A

Canadian System of National Accounts glossary – A
Term Definition
Aboriginal general government Includes all First Nations governments and tribal councils as well as representative First Nations organizations; governments of Métis settlements; and government groups associated with the Métis and Inuit, such as Métis provincial associations. Excludes the economic activity of communities in Nunavut which are part of local government.
 
Aboriginal government The group of units consisting of all government units belonging to Aboriginal government and all non-market, non-profit institutions controlled and mainly financed by Aboriginal governments.
 
Absolute alcohol Pure alcohol free of water.
 
Accessible forest land Forest land that is accessible by road, rail or water for the purpose of harvesting wood, as classified within a forest inventory map sheet.
 
Account A statement which records, for a given perspective on the economy, a) the uses and resources, or b) the changes in assets and the changes in liabilities and/or c) the stock of assets and liabilities existing at a certain time.

See also: Canada's System of national economic accounts: an overview
 
Accounting Accounting is a system that records, measures and reports the financial events of an economic entity. There are different types of accounting systems that may be used for this purpose.

See also: Account, Sequence of accounts, Flow, Financial Management System
 
Accrual accounting An accounting system that recognizes revenue and expenses to be reflected in the accounts in the period in which they are deemed to have been earned and incurred, whether or not the related cash receipts and disbursements occur in the same period. The corresponding notion used in the compilation of the Canadian National Accounting is accrual treatment of economic entries.

See also: Guide to the Income and Expenditures Accounts, Catalogue no. 13-017
 
Accrual treatment of economic entries Accrual accounting records flows at the time economic value is created, transformed, exchanged, transferred, or extinguished. This means that flows that imply a change of ownership are entered when the change occurs, services are recorded when provided, output at the time products are created and intermediate consumption when materials and supplies are being used.

See also: Account, Sequence of accounts
 
Reference: Financial Management System, Catalogue no. 68F0023

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 3.166

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

French: Traitement des entrées économiques selon la comptabilité d'exercice
Accrued net income of farm operators from farm production Net income received by farm operators from farm production plus the undistributed portion of earnings arising out of the operations of the Canadian Wheat Board and the adjustment made to shift agricultural subsidies from a cash to an accrual basis.

See also: Canada's System of national economic accounts: an overview
 
Acquisitions Acquisitions of goods and services by institutional units occur when they become the new owners of the goods or when the delivery of services to them is completed. Acquisitions are valued at the transaction prices paid by the units that incur the expenditures. In most cases, the transaction price is the market price.

See also: Expenditures on goods and services
 
Reference: Guide to the Income and Expenditure Accounts, Catalogue no. 13-017

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 9.36

French: Acquisitions
Actual final consumption Actual final consumption measures the amount of consumption goods and services acquired.

See also: Canada's System of national economic accounts: an overview
 
Reference: Guide to the Income and Expenditure Accounts, Catalogue no. 13-017

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 9.6, 9.7

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

French: Consommation finale effective
Adjusting entries The difference between the total constant dollar aggregates (laspeyres or base-weighted estimates) and the sum of their components for years prior to the most recent base year. The base year refers to the year for which the constant dollar estimates are weighted and labelled, for example constant 2007 dollars. Adjusting entries arise because prior to the currently used base year, constant dollar aggregates are not recalculated using the weights of the new base year but are mechanically linked to maintain the growth rates as calculated in the original base period. The calculations were originally done for many base periods such as 2002, 1997, 1993, 1986, 1981, 1971 and 1961. Since each series is linked independently, the components no longer add to the total for the historically linked periods. For the recent data following the currently used base period, the components are additive and no adjusting entry is necessary.
 
Affiliate Business entity which is owned from 10% to 100% by another business entity. Depending on the level of ownership, affiliates are classified as associates or subsidiaries or branches.

See also: About the balance of payments
 
Allocation of primary income account The allocation of primary income account shows the incomes that accrue to institutional units as a consequence of their involvement in processes of production or ownership of assets that may be needed for purposes of production. Examples include compensation of employees, property income, taxes on production, and imports.
 
Component of: Sequence of accounts

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 2.92, 2.93

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

French: Compte d'affectation du revenu primaire
Amortization Scheduled reimbursement or repayment of the amount borrowed.

See also: Non produced non financial assets
 
Ancillary activity A supporting activity undertaken within an enterprise in order to create the conditions within which the principal activity or secondary activity can be carried out. Currently, only head office ancillary services are measured; those of warehouses are not.

See also: The Input-Output Accounts
 
Component of: Economic activity

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

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraph 5.36

French: Activité auxiliaire
Annuity In pension terminology, periodic payments (usually monthly) provided by the terms of a contract for the lifetime of an individual (the annuitant) or the individual and his or her designated beneficiary; may be fixed or varying amount, and may continue for a period after the annuitant's death.

See also: Pension plan, Pension fund
 
Source: Guide to the Pension Satellite Account, Catalogue no. 13-599

French: Viager
Asset-backed securities Securities that are backed by a discrete pool of self-liquidating financial assets. Asset-backed securitization is a financing technique in which financial assets, in many cases themselves less liquid, are pooled and converted into instruments that may be offered and sold in the capital markets. In a basic securitization structure, an entity, often a financial institution and commonly known as a "sponsor", originates or otherwise acquires a pool of financial assets, such as loans, leases, credit card debt, or receivables, either directly or through an affiliate. It then sells the financial assets, again either directly or through an affiliate, to a specially created investment vehicle that issues securities "backed" or supported by those financial assets.

See also: Debt instruments
 
Component of: Debt securities

Reference: The financial and wealth accounts

Source: System of National Accounts 2008, paragraphs 11.64, 11.76

French: Titres adossés à des actifs
Assets Entities functioning as stores of value and over which ownership rights are enforced by institutional units, individually or collectively, and from which economic benefits may be derived by their owners by holding them, or using them, over a period of time. The economic benefits consist of primary income derived from the use of the asset, and the value, including possible holding gains or losses, that could be realised by disposing of the asset or terminating it.

See also: Canada's international investment position, Catalogue no. 67-202
 
Assets of persons changing residence When persons change residence from one economic region to another, their existing financial assets, such as capital brought with them or assets left abroad, are added to or removed from the international investment position through a reclassification, not by imputing transactions in the balance of payments.
 
Associate Business entity which is owned from 10% to 50% by another business entity.

See also: About the balance of payments; Canada's System of national economic accounts: an overview
 
Associations of individuals Non-profit institutions serving households, such as churches, labour unions and charitable organizations, plus credit unions, trusteed pension plans, life insurance companies, fraternal societies, and mutual non-life insurance companies.

See also: Institutional Sectors; Classification of Institutional Units by Sectors
 
Autonomous government funds Funds that operate independently of the governments that created them. They are legislated to keep separate books of account; are able to own assets and incur liabilities; enter into contracts; accept obligations; and engage in economic activities for which they can be held directly responsible under the law. Since funds have no employees, they are managed by agents of the government.

See also: Non-autonomous government funds, Classification of Institutional Units by Sectors, Guide to the public sector of Canada, Catalogue no. 12-589
 
Component of: Federal government, Provincial and territorial government, Local government, Aboriginal government

Reference: About the government finance statistical program

Source: Financial Management System, Catalogue no. 68F0023

Notes: Introduced with the Canadian System of National Accounts 2012 historical revision. Prior to this revision this term was referred to as Autonomous general government funds.

French: Fonds autonome des administrations publiques
Autonomous pension fund Autonomous pension funds are separate institutional units established for the purpose of providing incomes on retirement for specific groups of employees and which are organized and directed by a private or public employer, or jointly by the employer and its employees.

See also: Non-autonomous pension fund; Guide to the public sector of Canada, Catalogue no. 12-589; Guide to the Pension Satellite Account, Catalogue no. 13-599; Insurance Corporations and Pension Funds in the Classification of Institutional Units by Sectors
 
Autonomous pension plan See autonomous pension fund.
 
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