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To: Jim Robinson
For the U.S. government, you can find a simple balance sheet here.

Here are the 2002 and 2003 balance sheets:


The Federal Government's Balance Sheet, 2002 and 2003

(Billions of dollars)

  2002 2003

Assets
Cash and Monetary Assets 141.6 119.6
Receivables  
  Accountsa 32.0 33.8
  Loansa 219.2 221.1
  Taxes 21.4 22.9
Inventories and Related Propertya,b 192.2 241.2
Property, Structures, and Equipmenta,b 324.7 658.2
Other Assets 65.4 97.1
    Total Assets 996.5 1,393.9
           
Liabilities
Accounts Payable 55.8 62.2
Debt Held by the Public and Accrued Interest 3,573.2 3,944.9
Federal Employee and Veterans' Benefits 3,589.4 3,880.0
Environmental and Disposal Liabilities 273.0 249.9
Social Insurance and Other Benefits Due and Payable 95.3 100.0
Insurance Programsc 53.9 69.9
Loan Guarantees 28.1 34.6
Other Liabilities 148.0 157.1
    Total Liabilities 7,816.7 8,498.6
Net Position (Assets minus liabilities) -6,820.2 -7,104.7
      Total Liabilities and Net Position 996.5 1,393.9

Source: Congressional Budget Office based on Department of the Treasury, Financial Report of the United States Government (updated March 30, 2003), p. 58; Financial Report of the United States Government (February 27, 2004), pp. 62 and 123; and unpublished data from the Treasury's Financial Management Service.

Note: The balance sheets are figured as of September 30, the end of the government's fiscal year.

a. Reported on a net basis.

b. The amount for 2002 excludes the Department of Defense's holdings.

c. The category's title is somewhat misleading because the total for 2003 includes amounts for items such as retirement benefits owed to contractors working for the Department of Energy ($9.8 billion) and to the District of Columbia's teachers, police, and firemen ($8.3 billion).

For other bits of the economy, one good place to look is here.

In particular, you could find a number of non-governmental balance sheets in this file.

56 posted on 12/01/2004 5:52:22 PM PST by snowsislander
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To: snowsislander; Jim Robinson
Here are a few relevant paragraphs and related footnotes on the asset and debt situation that appear on the previously mentioned page:

...

The balance sheet does not include all federal assets and foreseeable outflows of resources. Specifically, some government assets are not considered spendable resources, and many of the government's potential commitments do not meet the high threshold requirements for a recorded asset or liability. As an example, the asset side of the balance sheet currently omits vast holdings of public land.(9)

However, the financial report provides information on a broader range of claims in other parts of the document. For example, the balance sheet does not include payments for Social Security and Medicare until they are due and payable because these do not represent a current liability--current law may be changed to alter future payments. However, projected payments are reported in the special section on the government's so-called stewardship responsibilities. Nor does the balance sheet encompass contingent liabilities for losses that may occur in federal insurance programs. Information on those potential costs is provided either through notes to the statements or as required supplemental data.

In keeping with its focus on the financial effects of events that have already occurred, the balance sheet also omits what many regard as the government's most valuable "asset": its power to levy taxes. Future tax receipts (excepting those that currently constitute a "receivable," in accounting terms) are omitted because they do not meet FASAB's definition of an asset--which requires not only the likelihood of future economic benefit but a past event that conveyed ownership or control to the reporting entity. Thus, future income tax revenues are not counted as an asset to the government until taxable income is earned and taxes on it are collectible.(10)

The government's net position can be positive (more assets than liabilities) or negative (more liabilities than assets). At the end of 2003, the government's reported net position was an excess of liabilities over assets of $7.1 trillion, largely reflecting the government's borrowing to finance accumulated deficits and its accrued liabilities for federal employees' and veterans' benefits (see Table 2). As a percentage of GDP, the government's net position represented about 66 percent. By contrast, the budget's main measure of indebtedness--government debt held by the public and reported on a cash-flow basis--totaled $3.9 trillion, or 36 percent of GDP.

Even though the federal balance sheet bears a strong resemblance to that of a private company, the interpretation of the government's net position differs significantly from that of net equity, the corresponding measure for a private firm. A private firm with negative equity is insolvent. Because a sovereign government that retains its power to tax can continue to operate indefinitely, the government's net position indicates the extent to which the cost of past government activities will have to be paid in the future.

...

Footnotes

...

9. The Office of Management and Budget also produces a federal balance sheet; for 2003, it valued federal land at $553 billion and mineral rights at $649 billion. See Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2005: Analytical Perspectives, Table 12-1, p. 188. In addition, although the land's value is not "booked" (recorded on the asset side of the balance sheet), federal accounting standards require information on the number of acres of land held and descriptions of so-called heritage assets (such as monuments, museums, and historical sites). See Financial Report of the United States Government (February 27, 2004), pp. 94-97.

10. Revenues are recognized once a legally enforceable claim exists and the collection is probable and measurable. The accounting method used for taxes is a modified cash-basis method rather than one with an accrual basis. See Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, Accounting for Revenue and Other Financing Sources and Concepts for Reconciling Budgetary and Financial Accounting, Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards No. 7 (May 10, 1996), paragraphs 5, 6, and 46-49.

11. If an asset (or liability) is "bookable," it can be recorded on the asset (or liability) side of the balance sheet according to guidance provided by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board.


63 posted on 12/01/2004 6:11:00 PM PST by snowsislander
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