In the 1993 SNA, retained earnings of an entity are generally treated as the income and saving of the entity, rather than the owner. However, exceptions are made for life insurance companies,
pension funds and foreign direct investment companies, where there is an imputed outflow to the
policyholders, beneficiaries, or owners (respectively), with an equal financial account inflow from
them. TheESA 95 introduces a similar treatment for mutual funds by imputing a distribution of
retained earnings to the investors and a subsequent reinvestment in the fund. Should the SNA
follow this treatment to have a more consistent treatment of various forms of collective investment
schemes? |