Talk:IMF Balance of Payments Manual

Contents?
What content should be provided?

One answer to the above question
First and foremost what the manual is for and who it's used by. My understanding is not even elementary (I do typesetting for books that use its methods and data, but I don't understand the content much) or I'd try. I'd include the terms and reporting standards defined by the manual, who uses it, why the IMF publishes it, etc. Different countries use different editions of the BPM. Current edition is the fifth (1993) and previous edition (fourth) was 1977. Data across countries have to be converted between standards and systems of nomenclature in order to be compared.