The non-profit sector in a national accounts framework

Abstract This paper first reviews the measurement and presentation of non-profit institutions in the US national income and product accounts. For the most part in these accounts, transactions of non-profit institutions serving individuals are consolidated with those of the individuals served and recorded in the personal income and outlay account, a treatment that a majority of users have never found satisfactory. The paper next details the recommendations for these institutions proposed for the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA). The paper then offers some suggestions on how the treatment of non-profit institutions in the US national income and product accounts might be modified in the light of the 1993 SNA recommendations.