Question

if the financial account balance must exactly offset the current account balance, why do government accounts bother to record the financial account?

Answer 1

Financial account is required to records government owned assets, private sector assets it helds in other countries, local assets held by foreigners (government or private), foreign direct investment (FDI), global monetary flows related to investment in any business, real estate, bonds or stocks.
It is used as indicator of performance of economoy. A negative balance in financial account indicates that country has more claims as compared to liabilities.It shows that economy is providing funds to the world.