Financial Statements of the United States Government for the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, 2019, and 2018

Balance Sheets

The Balance Sheets show the government’s assets, liabilities, and net position. When combined with stewardship information, this information presents a more comprehensive understanding of the government’s financial position. The net position for funds from dedicated collections is shown separately.

Assets

Assets included on the Balance Sheets are resources of the government that remain available to meet future needs. The most significant assets that are reported on the Balance Sheets are loans receivable, net; PP&E, net; inventories and related property, net; and cash and other monetary assets. There are, however, other significant resources available to the government that extend beyond the assets presented in these Balance Sheets. Those resources include Stewardship Land and Heritage Assets in addition to the government’s sovereign powers to tax and set monetary policy.

Liabilities and Net Position

Liabilities are obligations of the government resulting from prior actions that will require financial resources. The most significant liabilities reported on the Balance Sheets are federal debt securities held by the public and accrued interest, and federal employee and veteran benefits payable. Liabilities also include environmental and disposal liabilities, benefits due and payable, as well as insurance and guarantee program liabilities.

As with reported assets, the government’s responsibilities, policy commitments, and contingencies are much broader than these reported Balance Sheet liabilities. They include the social insurance programs reported in the SOSI and disclosed in the unaudited RSI—Social Insurance section, fiscal long-term projections of non-interest spending reported in the SLTFP, and a wide range of other programs under which the government provides benefits and services to the people of this nation, as well as certain future loss contingencies.

The government has entered into contractual commitments requiring the future use of financial resources and has unresolved contingencies where existing conditions, situations, or circumstances create uncertainty about future losses. Contingencies and commitments that do not meet the criteria for recognition as liabilities on the Balance Sheets, but for which there is at least a reasonable possibility that losses have been incurred, are disclosed in Note 18—Contingencies and Note 19—Commitments.

The collection of certain taxes and other revenue is credited to the corresponding funds from dedicated collections that will use these funds to meet a particular government purpose. If the collections from taxes and other sources exceed the payments to the beneficiaries, the excess revenue is invested in Treasury securities or deposited in the General Fund; therefore, the trust fund balances do not represent cash. An explanation of the trust funds for social insurance is included in Note 20—Funds from Dedicated Collections. That note also contains information about trust fund receipts, disbursements, and assets.

Due to its sovereign power to tax and borrow, and the country’s wide economic base, the government has unique access to financial resources through generating tax revenues and issuing federal debt securities. This provides the government with the ability to meet present obligations and those that are anticipated from future operations and are not reflected in net position.

The net position is the residual difference between assets and liabilities and is the cumulative results of operations since inception. For detailed components that comprise the net position, refer to the section “Statement of Operations and Changes in Net Position.”

United States Government
Balance Sheets
as of September 30, 2019, and 2018

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(In billions of dollars)	2019	Restated 2018
Assets:
Cash and other monetary assets (Note 2)	524.6	507.5
Accounts and taxes receivable, net (Note 3)	238.0	144.9
Loans receivable, net (Note 4)	1,425.8	1,419.1
Inventories and related property, net (Note 5)	355.7	337.5
Property, plant, and equipment, net (Note 6)	1,106.9	1,090.5
Debt and equity securities (Note 7)	118.3	112.2
Investments in government-sponsored enterprises (Note 8)	112.1	113.2
Other assets (Note 9)	110.6	111.8
Total assets	3,992.0	3,836.7
Stewardship land and heritage assets (Note 24)
Liabilities:
Accounts payable (Note 10)	98.0	86.7
Federal debt securities held by the public and accrued interest (Note 11)	16,861.0	15,812.7
Federal employee and veteran benefits payable (Note 12)	8,440.3	7,982.3
Environmental and disposal liabilities (Note 13)	595.4	577.3
Benefits due and payable (Note 14)	223.6	211.1
Insurance and guarantee program liabilities (Note 15)	194.5	170.2
Loan guarantee liabilities (Note 4)	21.7	38.2
Other liabilities (Note 16)	510.3	478.9
Total liabilities	26,944.8	25,357.4
Contingencies (Note 18) and Commitments (Note 19)
Net position:
Funds from Dedicated Collections (Note 20)	3,517.1	3,480.7
Funds other than those from Dedicated Collections	(26,469.9)	(25,001.4)
Total net position	(22,952.8)	(21,520.7)
Total liabilities and net position	3,992.0	3,836.7
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

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Last modified 05/11/21