Revenue 107
the ratio of dividends to distributable income over the
recent past and assess the plausibility that the current
level of dividends declared is in line with past prac-
tice. In practice, a proxy for distributable income can
be measured by the net operating balance (NOB), ex-
cluding dividends payable and net capital transfers.
Determining whether dividends are in line with past
practice is recommended for all corporations, includ-
ing the central bank.
5.117 Interim dividends are dividend payments
during a reporting period, before the fi nal operating
result of a corporation is known. If evidence exists
that such dividends are not from the current period’s
operating surplus, interim dividend payments should
be recorded as a fi nancial advance to the shareholder
in transactions in fi nancial assets and liabilities.
Withdrawals of income from quasi-corporations (1413)
5.118 Withdrawals of income from quasi-corporations
(1413) consist of that part of distributable income^32
that the owner withdraws from the quasi-corporation.
By defi nition, quasi-corporations^33 cannot distribute
income in the form of dividends, but the owner may
choose to withdraw some or all of the distributable
income. Conceptually, the withdrawal of such in-
come is equivalent to the distribution of corporate
income through dividends and is recorded the same
way. Th e amount of income that the owner of a quasi-
corporation chooses to withdraw will depend largely
on the size of its disposable income before taxes. All
such withdrawals are recorded on the date the pay-
ment actually occurs.
5.119 As with dividends, withdrawals of income
from quasi-corporations do not include withdrawals
of funds realized from the sale or other disposal of
the quasi-corporation’s assets. Withdrawals based on
such sales should be recorded as disposals of nonfi -
nancial assets in the accounts of the quasi-corporation
and the reduction of the equity of quasi-corporations
owned by government sector units. Similarly, funds
withdrawn by liquidating large amounts of accumu-
lated retained earnings or other reserves of the quasi-
corporation are recorded as withdrawals from equity.
(^32) See paragraph 5.116 for a discussion on distributable income.
(^33) Th e criteria to identify quasi-corporations are described in
paragraph 2.33.
Property income from investment income disbursements (1414).
5.120 Property income from investment income
disbursements (1414) includes property income at-
tributed to insurance policyholders and holders of
investment fund shares.^34 Insurance enterprises hold
technical reserves in the form of prepayments of pre-
miums, reserves against outstanding claims, and ac-
tuarial reserves against outstanding risks with respect
to life insurance policies. Th ese reserves are liabilities
toward the benefi ciaries, including any government
or other public sector units that are policyholders.
Any income receivable from the investment of the
corresponding assets should also be attributed as the
property income of the policyholders or benefi ciaries.
However, for government sector units as the holder
of policies, the revenue related to this item is likely to
be unknown and would probably be calculated only
in the context of the whole of the economy; therefore
this revenue item is excluded from GFS and so is an
adjustment item between GFS and national accounts
(see Appendix 7). Th is type of property income is de-
scribed in greater detail in paragraphs 6.113–6.119 in
the context of the corresponding expense.
5.121 Investment income attributed to holders
of shares or units in investment funds includes two
separate items. Th e fi rst of these is the dividends dis-
tributed to investment fund shareholders. Th e second
is retained earnings attributed to investment fund
shareholders. Th e increase in value of investment
fund shares or units other than from holding gains
and losses is recorded as distributed to the share- or
unit holders and reinvested by them in the fi nancial
instrument.Rent (1415).
5.122 Rent (1415) is the revenue receivable by the
owners of a natural resource (the lessor or landlord)
for putting the natural resource at the disposal of an-
other institutional unit (a lessee or tenant) for use of
the natural resource in production. Rent receivable is
typically related to a resource lease on land, subsoil
resources, and other natural resources. In terms of the(^34) Investment income disbursements by defi nition also include
investment income attributed to participants in pension schemes.
However, public sector institutional units are not entitled to
pension benefi ts, and therefore this subcategory of investment
income disbursement is not applicable as a GFS revenue category.