Financial Statements of the United States Government for the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, 2017, and 2016

The consolidated financial statements of the United States Government (Government) were prepared using U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The consolidated financial statements include the accrual-based financial statements and the sustainability financial statements, which are discussed in more detail below, and the related notes to the consolidated financial statements. Collectively, the accrual-based financial statements, the sustainability financial statements, and the notes represent basic information that is deemed essential for the consolidated financial statements to be presented in conformity with GAAP.

Accrual-based Financial Statements

The accrual-based financial statements present historical information on what the federal government owns (assets) and owes (liabilities) at the end of the year, what came in (revenues) and what went out (net costs) during the year, and how accrual-based net operating costs of the federal government reconcile to the budget deficit and changes in its cash balance during the year. The following sections discuss each of the accrual-based financial statements.

Statements of Net Cost

Statements of Operations & Changes in Net Position

Reconciliations of Net Operating Cost & Unified Budget Deficit

Statements of Changes in Cash Balance from Unified Budget & Other Activities

Balance Sheets

Sustainability Financial Statements

The sustainability financial statements are comprised of the Statements of Long-Term Fiscal Projections, covering all federal government programs, and the Statements of Social Insurance and the Statement of Changes in Social Insurance Amounts, covering social insurance programs (Social Security, Medicare, Railroad Retirement, and Black Lung programs). The sustainability financial statements are designed to illustrate the relationship between projected receipts and expenditures if current policy is continued over a 75 year time horizon¹. For this purpose, the projections assume that scheduled social insurance benefit payments would continue after related trust funds are projected to be exhausted, contrary to current law, and that debt could continue to rise indefinitely without severe economic consequences. The sustainability financial statements are intended to help citizens understand current policy and the importance and magnitude of policy reforms necessary to make it sustainable.

By accounting convention, the Statements of Social Insurance do not include projected general revenues that, under current law, would be used to finance the remainder of the expenditures in excess of revenues for Medicare Parts B and D reported in the Statements of Social Insurance. The Statements of Long-Term Fiscal Projections include all revenues (including general revenues) of the federal government.

Statements of Long-Term Fiscal Projections

Statements of Social Insurance

Statements of Social Insurance and Changes in Social Insurance Amounts

Footnotes

¹ With the exception of the Black Lung program, which has a rolling 25-year projection period through September 30, 2042. (Back to Content)

Last modified 02/09/23