Thus, a stock refers to the value of an asset at a balance date (or point in time), while a flow refers to the total value of transactions (sales or purchases, incomes or expenditures) during an accounting period.

The distinction is not always clearly stated in statistical tabulations - they might refer either to the stock of capital tied up in fixed assets at a balance date, or to how much was spent on fixed equipment during a quarter or year.

It might be understood to mean the price of the asset if it was sold at a balance date, or the current replacement cost of the asset, or the average price of the asset type in the market at a certain date, etc.

The term "fixed investment" may be somewhat ambiguous, because it could refer to the value of a stock of fixed assets being held at a balance date, or to the value of a flow of expenditures on fixed assets across an accounting interval, such as a year.

Furthermore, businesses might engage in creative accounting and deliberately state their assets and liabilities held at a balance date, or interpret the figures in some other way, to increase the amount of depreciation write-offs, and thus boost their income (how this is done will depend a lot on tax law).