The Balance of Payments Manual published by the International Monetary Fund provides accounting standards for balance of payments reporting and analysis for many countries. The Bureau of Economic Analysis adheres to this standard.
The sixth edition was released in prepublication form in December 2008. Its title has been amended to Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual to reflect that it covers not only transactions, but also the stocks of the related financial assets and liabilities.
References
IMF Balance of Payments Manual Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA