The publication of the 1993 System of National Accounts served as a major milestone in creating international standards for compiling a fully integrated set of accounts measuring a nation's production, income, capital, financial transactions, and wealth. While statistical agencies continue to make progress toward full implementation of the 1993 SNA, attention is now turning to perceived deficiencies of the system and areas for possible improvement. Economists have made a number of suggestions for possible changes in the national accounts; this paper will discuss several of them:

• modification of the production account to explicitly include measurement of multifactor productivity,
• changes to the definition of output for certain financial services,
• changes to the asset boundary, particularly with respect to research and development and other types of intangible investment,
• capitalization of military equipment,
• inclusion of consumer durable goods in measures of saving and in the balance sheet, and possible imputation of capital services provided by durables,
• imputation of a rate of return to fixed assets used in non-market production by general government and nonprofit institutions serving household,
• reconsideration of the sectoral boundaries, particularly for nonprofit institutions serving households,
• modification of the definition of capital transfers for capital gains taxes.

This paper will discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages that would be associated with each suggested change, without necessarily attempting to make conclusive recommendations about the appropriateness of any particular change.