diff --git a/arch/ia64/kernel/time.c b/arch/ia64/kernel/time.c
index 16bb6eda879df994c194b8bb91f30f8b6979f31e..01cd43e491cd0b7117264aeca2d95d3aac7e507b 100644
--- a/arch/ia64/kernel/time.c
+++ b/arch/ia64/kernel/time.c
@@ -116,29 +116,32 @@ void vtime_task_switch(struct task_struct *prev)
  * Account time for a transition between system, hard irq or soft irq state.
  * Note that this function is called with interrupts enabled.
  */
-void vtime_account(struct task_struct *tsk)
+static cputime_t vtime_delta(struct task_struct *tsk)
 {
 	struct thread_info *ti = task_thread_info(tsk);
-	unsigned long flags;
 	cputime_t delta_stime;
 	__u64 now;
 
-	local_irq_save(flags);
-
 	now = ia64_get_itc();
 
 	delta_stime = cycle_to_cputime(ti->ac_stime + (now - ti->ac_stamp));
-	if (irq_count() || idle_task(smp_processor_id()) != tsk)
-		account_system_time(tsk, 0, delta_stime, delta_stime);
-	else
-		account_idle_time(delta_stime);
 	ti->ac_stime = 0;
-
 	ti->ac_stamp = now;
 
-	local_irq_restore(flags);
+	return delta_stime;
+}
+
+void vtime_account_system(struct task_struct *tsk)
+{
+	cputime_t delta = vtime_delta(tsk);
+
+	account_system_time(tsk, 0, delta, delta);
+}
+
+void vtime_account_idle(struct task_struct *tsk)
+{
+	account_idle_time(vtime_delta(tsk));
 }
-EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(vtime_account);
 
 /*
  * Called from the timer interrupt handler to charge accumulated user time
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c b/arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c
index 39899d7ebda0081a6057d6a999301aacdaf56b02..29b6d3e1ea28df7c15c9a94b444482312454a1d1 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c
@@ -291,13 +291,12 @@ static inline u64 calculate_stolen_time(u64 stop_tb)
  * Account time for a transition between system, hard irq
  * or soft irq state.
  */
-void vtime_account(struct task_struct *tsk)
+static u64 vtime_delta(struct task_struct *tsk,
+			u64 *sys_scaled, u64 *stolen)
 {
-	u64 now, nowscaled, delta, deltascaled;
-	unsigned long flags;
-	u64 stolen, udelta, sys_scaled, user_scaled;
+	u64 now, nowscaled, deltascaled;
+	u64 udelta, delta, user_scaled;
 
-	local_irq_save(flags);
 	now = mftb();
 	nowscaled = read_spurr(now);
 	get_paca()->system_time += now - get_paca()->starttime;
@@ -305,7 +304,7 @@ void vtime_account(struct task_struct *tsk)
 	deltascaled = nowscaled - get_paca()->startspurr;
 	get_paca()->startspurr = nowscaled;
 
-	stolen = calculate_stolen_time(now);
+	*stolen = calculate_stolen_time(now);
 
 	delta = get_paca()->system_time;
 	get_paca()->system_time = 0;
@@ -322,28 +321,38 @@ void vtime_account(struct task_struct *tsk)
 	 * the user ticks get saved up in paca->user_time_scaled to be
 	 * used by account_process_tick.
 	 */
-	sys_scaled = delta;
+	*sys_scaled = delta;
 	user_scaled = udelta;
 	if (deltascaled != delta + udelta) {
 		if (udelta) {
-			sys_scaled = deltascaled * delta / (delta + udelta);
-			user_scaled = deltascaled - sys_scaled;
+			*sys_scaled = deltascaled * delta / (delta + udelta);
+			user_scaled = deltascaled - *sys_scaled;
 		} else {
-			sys_scaled = deltascaled;
+			*sys_scaled = deltascaled;
 		}
 	}
 	get_paca()->user_time_scaled += user_scaled;
 
-	if (in_interrupt() || idle_task(smp_processor_id()) != tsk) {
-		account_system_time(tsk, 0, delta, sys_scaled);
-		if (stolen)
-			account_steal_time(stolen);
-	} else {
-		account_idle_time(delta + stolen);
-	}
-	local_irq_restore(flags);
+	return delta;
+}
+
+void vtime_account_system(struct task_struct *tsk)
+{
+	u64 delta, sys_scaled, stolen;
+
+	delta = vtime_delta(tsk, &sys_scaled, &stolen);
+	account_system_time(tsk, 0, delta, sys_scaled);
+	if (stolen)
+		account_steal_time(stolen);
+}
+
+void vtime_account_idle(struct task_struct *tsk)
+{
+	u64 delta, sys_scaled, stolen;
+
+	delta = vtime_delta(tsk, &sys_scaled, &stolen);
+	account_idle_time(delta + stolen);
 }
-EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(vtime_account);
 
 /*
  * Transfer the user and system times accumulated in the paca
diff --git a/arch/s390/include/asm/cputime.h b/arch/s390/include/asm/cputime.h
index 8709bdef233cc5a7a42d3b9bafc19d0682167849..023d5ae24482f188b984e269923471649c71502a 100644
--- a/arch/s390/include/asm/cputime.h
+++ b/arch/s390/include/asm/cputime.h
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@
 #include <linux/spinlock.h>
 #include <asm/div64.h>
 
+
+#define __ARCH_HAS_VTIME_ACCOUNT
+
 /* We want to use full resolution of the CPU timer: 2**-12 micro-seconds. */
 
 typedef unsigned long long __nocast cputime_t;
diff --git a/include/linux/kernel_stat.h b/include/linux/kernel_stat.h
index ca0944b92f4abf5b0b1176db3680db6df9fcacd1..36d12f0884c3d287d31cd00e7c97e417249d67e9 100644
--- a/include/linux/kernel_stat.h
+++ b/include/linux/kernel_stat.h
@@ -132,6 +132,8 @@ extern void account_idle_ticks(unsigned long ticks);
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_VIRT_CPU_ACCOUNTING
 extern void vtime_task_switch(struct task_struct *prev);
+extern void vtime_account_system(struct task_struct *tsk);
+extern void vtime_account_idle(struct task_struct *tsk);
 #else
 static inline void vtime_task_switch(struct task_struct *prev) { }
 #endif
diff --git a/kernel/sched/cputime.c b/kernel/sched/cputime.c
index 53f5b12f28212a1b2a79632956285589ab81b093..81b763ba58a669e940dd1d9b6aa7c730159c2eab 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/cputime.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/cputime.c
@@ -432,6 +432,32 @@ void thread_group_times(struct task_struct *p, cputime_t *ut, cputime_t *st)
 	*ut = cputime.utime;
 	*st = cputime.stime;
 }
+
+/*
+ * Archs that account the whole time spent in the idle task
+ * (outside irq) as idle time can rely on this and just implement
+ * vtime_account_system() and vtime_account_idle(). Archs that
+ * have other meaning of the idle time (s390 only includes the
+ * time spent by the CPU when it's in low power mode) must override
+ * vtime_account().
+ */
+#ifndef __ARCH_HAS_VTIME_ACCOUNT
+void vtime_account(struct task_struct *tsk)
+{
+	unsigned long flags;
+
+	local_irq_save(flags);
+
+	if (in_interrupt() || !is_idle_task(tsk))
+		vtime_account_system(tsk);
+	else
+		vtime_account_idle(tsk);
+
+	local_irq_restore(flags);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(vtime_account);
+#endif /* __ARCH_HAS_VTIME_ACCOUNT */
+
 #else
 
 #ifndef nsecs_to_cputime