Box B
Satellite Accounts

Satellite accounts expand the analytical capacity of basic economic accounts for selected areas of social concern, such as transportation and tourism, without overburdening them with details or interfering with their general-purpose orientation. As such, satellite accounts supplement rather than replace existing accounts. While they maintain links to the existing national accounts, satellite accounts may use definitions and classifications that differ from those in the existing accounts.*

* For a discussion of the purposes and characteristics of satellite accounts, see Commission of European Communities, International Monetary Fund, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations, World Bank, System of National Accounts 1993, available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/sna1993. asp as of Mar. 15, 2011.