Abstract: Carbon accounting and quantitative analysis of carbon emissions are crucial for achieving the dual carbon targets. This paper focuses on the carbon accounting issue in the power system and starts from the perspectives of direct and indirect carbon emissions. Direct carbon emissions mainly come from thermal power units on the source side and SF₆ gas leakage on the grid side. This paper first reviews the carbon emission accounting methods and research overview of thermal power units, analyzes and compares the emission factor, material balance, and measurement methods around characteristics, accuracy, and applicability, and briefly explains the equivalent carbon emission accounting methods caused by SF₆ gas leakage. Secondly, it proposes a definition of indirect carbon emissions based on the relationship that power generation load is equal to the sum of auxiliary power load, network loss, and comprehensive power load. It clarifies the relationship between direct and indirect carbon emissions, and compares the advantages and disadvantages of using the average carbon emission factor method and carbon emission flow to calculate indirect carbon emissions. Finally, it analyzes the influencing factors of direct and indirect carbon emissions in the new power system. It also looks at the prospects for carbon emission accounting methods considering future market factors.