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Features of Balance of Payment Account:
(a) (i) It is a systematic record of all economic transactions between residents of one country and rest of the world.
(ii) It includes all transactions in goods (visible items), services (invisible) and assets (flow of capital) during a period of time.
(iii) It is constructed on double entry system of accounting. Thus every international transaction will result in credit entry and debit entry of equal size.
(iv) All economic transactions that are carried out with the rest of world are either credited or debited.
(v) In accounting sense total debits will always be equal to total credits. Thus balance of payments will always he in equilibrium. But in economic sense if receipts are greater than payments, there is surplus in BOP. Similarly, if payments are greater than receipts, there is deficit in BOP.
(b)    BOP account records a country’s all economic transactions with rest of world which involve inflow or outflow of foreign exchange.
(c)    Visible and Invisible items. Export and import of goods (like machinery, tea) are visible items because goods are visible. As against it, export and import of services (like shipping, banking, tourism) are invisible items since services cannot be seen.
Importance of BOP account. It is like a mirror which reflects economic health of a country. Persistent deficit in BOP is a cause of worry for the country. It has to be settled by short term loans or depletion of official reserve of foreign exchange or gold.