Provincial and Territorial Production, Income, Expenditure, Saving and Investment Accounts

The provincial and territorial production, income, expenditure, saving and investment accounts record the production of goods and services in the economy, the incomes arising from this production, expenditures on production and the resulting saving (dissaving) for the household sector and the general government sector. The recording of the information in a series of interrelated accounts allows analysts to formulate consistent interpretations of productive activity with income, expenditures and saving. The information is presented in the form of economic accounts that parallel, to some extent, the statements used in business accounting. The economic series' estimates that appear in a number of accounts are identical and/or consistent, because common definitions, classifications and valuations are used across the entire set of accounts.

Gross domestic product (GDP) lies at the centre of the production, income, expenditure and saving accounts. GDP is the unduplicated value of goods and services produced during a period that is available for final domestic consumption, investment or export. The provincial and territorial income and expenditure account records the value of GDP from two perspectives, as income arising from production and as final expenditure on goods and services produced. In real terms (that is, adjusted for price change), GDP is representative of the volume of economic activity in a given period. The provincial and territorial production account provides a measure of gross value added by industry—total output (or sales) less intermediate consumption.

The provincial and territorial income and expenditure accounts also record the distribution and use of income for two institutional sectors: households and general governments. These accounts articulate revenues to the sector (including current transfers from other sectors, such as employment insurance received) and current expenditures of the sector (including transfers to other sectors, such as income taxes paid to government). The difference between a sector’s income and its expenditure produces an estimate of the sector's saving.