Budgeting for Federal Insurance and Retirement Programs: Cash or Accrual?
Presentation
Presentation by Megan Carroll, chief of the scorekeeping unit in CBO’s Budget Analysis Division, and David Torregrosa, an analyst in CBO’s Financial Analysis Division, at the Southern Economic Association’s Annual Meetings.
The federal budget is a measure of the overall scope and magnitude of federal activities that involve the spending or collection of money. The net costs of those activities are shown in the budget mostly on a cash basis, but some transactions are recorded by means of accrual accounting. This presentation discusses the advantages and disadvantages of cash and accrual measures when accounting for various federal insurance programs and federal retirement programs.