The capital account is one of two primary components of the balance of payments. It tracks the movement of funds for investments and loans into and out of a country.

The capital account is the net result of public and private international investment flowing in and out of a country. This includes foreign direct investment, plus changes in holdings of stocks, bonds, loans, bank accounts, and currencies.

The capital account only keeps track of the money being transferred (i.e., the worth of stocks is not taken into account as money when calculating figures for the capital account). Hence, a surplus in the capital account amounts to debtor status.

Along with transactions pertaining to non-financial and non-produced assets, the capital account may also include debt forgiveness, the transfer of goods and financial assets by migrants leaving or entering a country, the transfer of ownership on fixed assets, the transfer of funds received to the sale or acquisition of fixed assets, gift and inheritance taxes, death levies, patents, copyrights, royalties, and uninsured damage to fixed assets.