  We present a general method for taking into account correlations due to
momentum conservation in the analysis of anisotropic flow, either by using the
two-particle correlation method or the standard flow vector method. In the
latter, the correlation between the particle and the flow vector is either
corrected through a redefinition (shift) of the flow vector, or subtracted
explicitly from the observed flow coefficient. In addition, momentum
conservation contributes to the reaction plane resolution. Momentum
conservation mostly affects the first harmonic in azimuthal distributions,
i.e., directed flow. It also modifies higher harmonics, for instance elliptic
flow, when they are measured with respect to a first harmonic event plane such
as one determined with the standard transverse momentum method. Our method is
illustrated by application to NA49 data on pion directed flow.
