The article discusses the applicability of the indicators used, to date, to estimate the fiscal position of a country. It focuses on the methods used for calculating the budget deficit and public debt. The discussion covers the basic advantages and disadvantages of these indicators, as well as suggestions for their improvement in order that they may best reflect the fiscal policy currently pursued by the government, make it more transparent and, thus, more reliable. The estimation of redistribution effects of current fiscal policy on future generations is of particular importance here. In the current political situation, more transparency and future-oriented indicators could prevent governments from faking implementation of fiscal reforms which, at the moment, are necessary to forestall any future financial crisis in public funds. By incorporating adjusted indicators into their fiscal policy, governments may gain a crucial argument against the demands by certain social groups for increased budget expenditure. Proposals formulated in the discussion show the possibility of using indicators adjusted for factors like prices, interest rates or economic conditions. The article also discusses the controversy caused by taking into account the unofficial assets and liabilities of the public sector, which have their influence on the so-called public sector net wealth. The arguments for and against the idea to distinguish, within the budget, two separate items were considered, namely the so-called current budget and the capital budget. Furthermore, the discussion covers the advantages and disadvantages of budget accounting methods which take into consideration the influence of fiscal policy upon particular generations (so-called generational accounting). The authors point to certain difficulties connected with attempts to improve the fiscal indicators. They also discuss the latest tendencies to confront quantitative indicators used so far with qualitative indicators which, for instance, reflect the structure of public debt or which take into account factors influencing the ability to repay public debt in the future.