About 10 minutes
Finance panel terms and definitions
A field-by-field reference for the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, loans and trend charts in the Finance panel.
Applies to game version 0.1.13How to use this reference
The Finance panel contains two different views of the same government:
- the Balance Sheet shows what the government has and owes at the current point in time;
- the Income Statement shows revenue and accounting expenses over a selected period.
The labels below describe the panel as it appears in game version 0.1.13. Amounts are rounded for display, so visible subtotals can occasionally differ by a small rounding amount.
Balance Sheet
The Balance Sheet is a snapshot. It does not describe only the selected month or year.
| Panel term | Definition | Nature |
|---|---|---|
| Total Assets | Transport Fund Balance plus the current book value of all road, rail, aviation and waterway facilities. | Point in time |
| Transport Fund Balance | Cash currently available for construction, operations, debt payments and other cash costs. | Cash Point in time |
| Road Facilities | The current book value of road assets. Book value falls through depreciation and can change when assets are upgraded, written off or removed. | Non-cash value |
| Rail Facilities | The current book value of railway assets. | Non-cash value |
| Aviation Facilities | The current book value of airport and aviation-related assets recorded by the accounting system. | Non-cash value |
| Waterway Facilities | The current book value of port, ferry and other waterway assets recorded by the accounting system. | Non-cash value |
| Total Liabilities | The remaining principal of all outstanding loans. Future interest is not included in this balance. | Point in time |
| Individual loan row | Shows the original principal, interest rate, remaining principal and monthly payment for one loan. | Point in time |
| Interest Rate | The current rate offered for a new loan at the nation’s present development level. Existing loans retain the rate agreed when they were taken. | Current offer |
Revenue composition
The bar above the Income Statement divides reported revenue into two broad groups.
Total revenue other than Government Grants. It includes tolls, fares, taxes and Other Revenue.
Government Grants recorded for the selected period, including qualifying supplemental public support.
This split describes the statement’s accounting categories. “Earned” can include Other Revenue that is non-cash, so it should not be read as a pure cash-flow measure.
Income Statement
The Income Statement covers a period. In the default view, the panel compares the current year to date with the same period in the previous year.
Revenue terms
| Panel term | Definition | Nature |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | Government Grants + all toll and fare revenue + Tax Revenue + Other Revenue for the selected period. | Mixed |
| Government Grants | Recurring public support based on the national economy and population-weighted transport service, plus qualifying supplemental government support recorded in the period. | Cash |
| Toll Revenue | Charges collected from billable road traffic, subject to the active toll rate, route use and capacity. | Cash |
| Rail Fare Revenue | Fares collected from billable railway passenger and freight movement. | Cash |
| Air Fare Revenue | Passenger fares collected by air routes. Airport-related taxes are reported under Tax Revenue instead. | Cash |
| Waterway Revenue | Passenger and cargo fares collected by active water routes. | Cash |
| Tax Revenue | Combined service-linked population tax, road fuel tax, airport and passenger taxes, and infrastructure-related taxes across transport modes. | Cash |
| Other Revenue | Currently used mainly for a positive, non-cash revaluation created by a road or railway upgrade. It increases Net Income but does not add money to the Transport Fund Balance. | Non-cash |
Other Revenue in detail
When a road or railway is upgraded, two amounts can differ:
- Upgrade expenditure is the cash actually paid for the upgrade.
- Replacement cost is the amount at which the completed asset would be recorded if its new configuration were built directly.
If the replacement cost is higher than the upgrade expenditure, the difference is recorded as a positive asset revaluation:
For example, suppose an upgrade costs $75.65M in cash and the completed asset is recorded at a replacement cost of $80M. The difference is $4.35M, which appears in Other Revenue.
The non-cash gain is reported as revenue.
The gain is included in the period’s accounting result.
The higher Net Income accumulates in equity.
Only the $75.65M upgrade payment affects cash.
If the replacement cost is lower than the upgrade expenditure, the negative difference is recorded as a non-cash loss under Other Expenses, rather than as negative Other Revenue.
Expense terms
| Panel term | Definition | Nature |
|---|---|---|
| Expenses | Maintenance + Depreciation + Loan Interest + Other Expenses for the selected period. Principal Repayment is shown separately and is not included in this total. | Mixed |
| Maintenance | Recurring cost of maintaining transport facilities, plus operating costs included by the relevant modes and routes. | Cash |
| Depreciation | The accounting allocation of asset cost over its useful life. It reduces facility book value and Net Income without directly reducing the transport fund that month. | Non-cash |
| Loan Interest | The interest portion of loan payments. It is both a cash cost and an expense. | Cash |
| Other Expenses | Currently used mainly for demolition costs, asset write-offs and negative upgrade revaluations. It can combine a real cash payment with non-cash accounting losses. | Mixed |
| Net Income | Revenue minus Maintenance, Depreciation, Loan Interest and Other Expenses. It is an accounting result, not the change in the transport fund. | Accounting result |
| Principal Repayment | The portion of loan payments that reduces the outstanding loan balance. It uses cash but is not an expense, because it reduces a liability. | Cash |
Other Expenses in detail
Other Expenses currently combines three kinds of costs that do not belong under Maintenance, Depreciation or Loan Interest:
The cash paid to remove a road or railway. It reduces both the Transport Fund Balance and Net Income.
The remaining book value removed when an asset is demolished or replaced. It lowers Net Income and facility assets without a second cash payment.
When an upgrade costs more than the replacement cost recorded for the completed asset, the difference is recognized as a non-cash loss.
For a demolition, the amount reported under Other Expenses is therefore:
Suppose removing a railway costs $2M and the railway still has a book value of $18M. The Income Statement records $20M in Other Expenses:
$2M cash demolition cost plus an $18M non-cash write-off.
Both components are accounting expenses.
The removed asset’s remaining book value leaves the Balance Sheet.
Only the demolition cost is paid in cash.
For an upgrade, the old asset’s remaining book value is written off when it is replaced. The new asset is then recorded at its replacement cost. The upgrade payment is a capital transaction rather than an ordinary expense; only a negative replacement-cost difference is added to Other Expenses as a revaluation loss.
This formula applies only when upgrade expenditure is higher. When replacement cost is higher instead, the positive difference appears under Other Revenue.
Why cash and Net Income differ
The two values answer different questions:
Includes depreciation and other non-cash entries.
Includes principal repayment and capital transactions, but excludes non-cash entries.
Examples:
- Depreciation lowers Net Income but does not directly use cash that month.
- Principal Repayment uses cash but does not lower Net Income.
- A positive asset revaluation can raise Other Revenue without adding cash.
- Construction uses cash while creating an asset; it is not treated as an ordinary monthly expense in full.
Loan window
| Panel term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Borrowing Limit | The maximum additional principal currently available after considering the economy, eligible asset backing and existing loan balances. |
| Loan Amount | The principal to be added to the transport fund if the loan is confirmed. |
| Interest Rate | The annual rate applied to the new loan, determined by the current development category. |
| Repayment Term | The number of years over which the loan will be repaid. |
| Monthly Payment | The scheduled monthly cash payment containing both interest and principal. |
| Total Interest | The projected interest paid over the full term if the loan follows its schedule. |
| Total Payment | Principal plus projected interest over the full repayment term. |
Reporting periods and comparisons
| Panel term | Definition |
|---|---|
| YTD | Year to date: totals from the beginning of the current year through the latest recorded month. |
| Last Year (YTD) | The equivalent year-to-date period one year earlier, allowing a like-for-like comparison. |
| Annual Report | A complete selected year, shown with the prior full year when that data is available. |
| Prior Year | The full year immediately before the selected annual report. |
| “-” | No comparable recorded value is available for that field and period. It is not the same as a recorded value of zero. |
Trend charts
The charts visualize recorded history; they do not forecast future results.
Revenue, expenses and Net Income over time.
Total Assets and Total Liabilities over time.
National population recorded for each period.
Total national GDP recorded for each period.
GDP per person recorded for each period.
Year-over-year GDP change, available in the annual view.
Monthly uses individual recorded months. Annual groups results by year. The range controls limit how much recorded history appears in the chart; they do not change the Income Statement’s accounting definitions.