Compendium of Budget Accounts: Fiscal Year 2001 (Staff Study, 04/01/2000,
GAO/AIMD-00-143).

GAO presented a compendium of fiscal year (FY) 2001 budget accounts to
give users a convenient way to: (1) sort through the federal
government's fiscal structure; and (2) determine the level of used,
estimated, or requested budgetary resources for individual accounts.

GAO noted that: (1) the compendium has the same organizational
arrangement as the appendix to the Budget of the United States
Government, FY 2001; (2) gross obligations are reported for each
account, since these figures best describe each budget account's
relative size in terms of financial commitments made within a given
fiscal year; (3) codes reflecting the accounts' related budget function
or subfunction and cognizant congressional appropriations subcommittees,
and authorizing subcommittees where appropriate, are included to enhance
the compendium's utility; (4) for presentation purposes the appendix
occasionally merges or consolidates separate accounts under a single
account title; (5) beginning with the FY 1997 budget submission,
financial information in the appendix was rounded to the nearest million
rather than nearest thousand; (6) this resulted in numerous account
title changes as accounts below $500,000 were consolidated or merged
with larger accounts; and (7) listings of zero gross obligations in
given fiscal years may reflect newly authorized, second-year,
consolidated, or terminated accounts.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  AIMD-00-143
     TITLE:  Compendium of Budget Accounts: Fiscal Year 2001
      DATE:  04/01/2000
   SUBJECT:  Budget authority
	     Budget obligations
	     Budget outlays
	     Presidential budgets
	     Budget functions
	     Identification codes
	     Future budget projections
	     Appropriation accounts
IDENTIFIER:  Postal Service Fund
	     Social Security Trust Fund

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GAO/AIMD-00-143

3

8

Legislative Branch 8

Judicial Branch 12

Department of Agriculture 15

Department of Commerce 23

Department of Defense − Military 27

Department of Health and Human Services 32

Department of the Interior 36

Department of Justice 43

Department of Labor 47

Department of State 50

Department of the Treasury 52

Social Security Administration 57

Department of Education 58

Department of Energy 61

Environmental Protection Agency 64

Department of Transportation 65

General Services Administration 70

Department of Housing and Urban Development 71

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 74

Office of Personnel Management 75

Small Business Administration 76

Department of Veterans Affairs 77

Executive Office of the President 79

Federal Drug Control Programs 82

International Assistance Programs 83

Other Defense Civil Programs 86

Corps of Engineers 88

Other Independent Agencies 89

Federal Government Totals 171

Appendix I: Budget Functions and Subfunctions

172

Appendix II: Congressional Committee Codes

176

Table 1: Format for Account Presentations 5

Preface

Each year the President is required by law to submit a budget to the
Congress.1 This budget not only presents the President's policy proposals
for the "budget year," in this case fiscal year 2001, but also
congressionally enacted budgetary totals for the current year (fiscal year
2000) and reported actual totals for the previous year (fiscal year 1999).
In effect, the President's submission analyzes and compiles separate
presentations for hundreds of budget accounts,2 covering all fiscal
activities of the federal government, including "off-budget"3 accounts such
as the Social Security trust funds and the Postal Service Fund. The
President's budget also includes, as submitted, certain accounts, such as
the legislative and judicial branch summaries, which by law or by practice
are not subject to presidential review.

The President's budget is intended to address many objectives and meet many
information needs; more than two dozen requirements are currently listed in
31 U.S.C. 1105. Accordingly, the budget comprises a wealth of information in
a daunting array of schedules, tables, graphs, and narrative summaries. The
comprehensiveness of the President's budget submission is both its principal
strength and most obvious inconvenience--its sheer size and complexity. For
example, the President's budget for fiscal year 2001 spanned five volumes4
and over 2,600 pages.

This compendium was prepared principally to help GAO staff members and other
interested individuals cope with the breadth of the federal budget. It gives
users a convenient way to sort through the fiscal structure of the federal
government and to determine the level of budgetary resources--used,
estimated, or requested by fiscal year--for individual accounts.

This compendium follows the same organizational pattern used in the Budget
of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2001 - Appendix (the Appendix).
Account summaries for the legislative and judicial branches precede listings
for the executive branch, which is organized alphabetically by major
department and agency, followed by other independent agencies. Individual
accounts are then grouped by major subordinate organization--usually a
bureau, service, or administration--or by major program area.

For each account, we report gross obligations in millions of nominal
dollars; gross obligations reflect a financial estimate of orders placed,
contracts awarded, services received, and other similar transactions during
the fiscal year. We selected gross obligations as the display criterion
because it best describes the relative size of each budget account,
expressed in terms of financial commitments made within a given fiscal year,
without regard to the type of underlying budgetary resource or when
resulting outlays may occur.5

In addition to the account title and budgetary data by fiscal year, we have
appended two additional codes to each account to enhance utility. First, to
provide perspective on mission or purpose, each account includes a code
reflecting the budget function or subfunction6 most directly associated with
the transactions financed by that account; a general description of each
function is provided in appendix I and a summary of gross obligations by
subfunction is provided at the beginning of the account listing for each
major department and agency. Second, we have coded each account by the
cognizant congressional appropriations subcommittee to clarify the locus of
congressional oversight for the specific budget account. Appendix II
summarizes the cognizant congressional committee codes used in this
document. The general designation "authorizing committee" is used, either
singularly or in combination with an appropriations subcommittee
designation, for those accounts whose spending authority is provided, in
whole or in part, in laws other than appropriations acts. Table 1 describes
the standard format followed for each grouping of accounts.

Table 1: Format for Account Presentations

 Column heading        Description
                       The name of the budget account title, as shown in
                       the Appendix. At the end of each account title, the
 Account               cognizant congressional committee code (see appendix
 (cognizant committee) II) is parenthetically appended. In some cases, a
                       given account will include authorizing and
                       appropriations committee codes, indicating joint or
                       mixed oversight for some account components.
                       Each budget account title is assigned a
                       multi-position account identification code developed
                       jointly by the Office of Management and Budget and
 Acct. ID              the Department of the Treasury. For purposes of this
                       document, the first two digits, representing the
                       agency code, and the second four digits,
                       representing the basic account symbol, are
                       sufficient to uniquely identify the account.
                       Each account is associated with a distinct
                       three-digit subfunction code reflecting its
                       activities' most important purpose(s). (See appendix
 Func.                 I for a descriptive listing of the budget
                       functions.) If the account is associated with two or
                       more subfunctions, the function code is used; if the
                       account is associated with two or more functions,
                       the code "999" is used.
                       In millions of dollars. This represents the actual
 Act. 1999             gross obligations for fiscal year 1999 as recorded
                       by the agency.
                       In millions of dollars. This represents the
                       estimated level of gross obligations based on
 Est. 2000             enacted appropriations; for indefinite
                       appropriations, this represents amounts likely to be
                       required.
                       In millions of dollars. This represents the
                       estimated level of gross obligations based on
 Req. 2001             requested levels of budgetary resources. In effect,
                       this represents the President's policy proposal for
                       fiscal year 2001.

For presentation purposes the Appendix occasionally merges or consolidates
separate accounts under a single account title. For example, the National
Institutes of Health account title within the Department of Health and Human
Services includes 28 separate budget accounts (as defined in footnote 2)
consolidated into one presentation in the President's budget. Beginning with
the fiscal year 1997 budget submission, financial information in the
Appendix was rounded to the nearest million rather than nearest thousand.
This decision resulted in numerous account title changes as accounts below
$500,000 were consolidated or merged with larger accounts.7

The federal budget account structure is dynamic, with numerous changes from
year to year. Some of these changes can be discerned by noting the presence
or absence of gross obligations within a given account presentation. For
example, the fiscal year 2001 budget contains 1,159 accounts, showing
obligations made in fiscal year 1999, estimated for fiscal year 2000, or
requested for fiscal year 2001. Thirty-six of these accounts show some level
of gross obligations for fiscal year 2001 but nothing for fiscal years 1999
and 2000; typically, this is an indication of a new account proposal by the
President. Where only fiscal year 1999 shows zero gross obligations, this
typically indicates an account first enacted in fiscal year 2000 and
proposed to continue during fiscal year 2001; 49 accounts fall into this
category. Where some level of gross obligations are listed for fiscal year
1999 but nothing is shown for fiscal years 2000 or 2001, this typically
indicates an account merged, consolidated, or terminated in the current
year; 40 accounts fell into this category. Lastly, 38 accounts show zero
obligations for fiscal year 2001, but some level of gross obligations for
fiscal years 1999 and 2000; this pattern usually indicates that the account
title has been merged or consolidated, or has been or is being proposed for
termination.

The account-level data in this compendium was extracted from automated
information collected and maintained by Office of Management and Budget as
part of its process to develop the President's fiscal year 2001 budget
submission. We did not independently verify the data reported for each
account although we did reconcile total obligations--for branches,
departments, and agencies and for selected individual accounts--to published
sources. If additional account-level detail is needed, users should consult
the index to the Appendix for the page number of the specific account
identified in this compendium.

We will send copies of this document to interested congressional parties and
others on request. This compendium of accounts was prepared by Toni Wehman,
Evaluator, under the direction of Michael J. Curro, Assistant Director. If
there are any questions, these staff members and I can be reached at (202)
512-9573.

Paul L. Posner
Director, Budget Issues
Accounting and Information Management Division

Compendium of Budget Accounts

Budget Functions and Subfunctions

(Continued from Previous Page)

       Function              Description                Subfunction
                      Common defense and
                      security of the United
                      States, including
                      raising, equipping, and
                      maintaining of armed
                      forces; development and
                      utilization of weapons     Department of
                      systems; direct            Defense--Military (051)
                      compensation and benefits
 National Defense     paid to active military    Atomic Energy Defense
 (050)                and civilian personnel;    Activities (053)
                      defense research,
                      development, testing, and  Defense-related Activities
                      evaluation; and            (054)
                      procurement,
                      construction,
                      stockpiling, and other
                      activities undertaken to
                      directly foster national
                      security.
                                                 International Development
                                                 and Humanitarian
                                                 Assistance (151)
                      Maintaining peaceful
                      relations, commerce, and   International Security
                      travel between the United  Assistance (152)
 International        States and the rest of
 Affairs (150)        the world and promoting    Conduct of Foreign Affairs
                      international security     (153)
                      and economic development
                      abroad.                    Foreign Information and
                                                 Exchange Activities (154)

                                                 International Financial
                                                 Programs (155)
                      Resources allocated to
                      science and research       General Science and Basic
 General Science,     activities of the federal  Research (251)
 Space and Technology government that are not
 (250)                an integral part of the    Space Flight, Research,
                      programs conducted under   and Supporting Activities
                      any other function.        (252)
                                                 Energy Supply (271)

                                                 Energy Conservation (272)
                      Promoting an adequate
 Energy (270)         supply and appropriate     Emergency Energy
                      use of energy to serve     Preparedness (274)
                      the needs of the economy.
                                                 Energy Information,
                                                 Policy, and Regulation
                                                 (276)
                                                 Water Resources (301)

                                                 Conservation and Land
                                                 Management (302)

 Natural Resources    Developing, managing, and  Recreational Resources
 and Environment      maintaining the nation's   (303)
 (300)                natural resources and
                      environment.
                                                 Pollution Control and
                                                 Abatement (304)

                                                 Other Natural Resources
                                                 (306)
                      Promoting the economic
                      stability of agriculture   Farm Income Stabilization
                                                 (351)
 Agriculture (350)    and the nation's
                      capability to maintain
                      and increase agricultural  Agricultural Research and
                      production.                Services (352)
                      Promotion and regulation
                      of commerce and the
                      housing credit and
                      deposit insurance
                      industries, which pertain
                      to collection and          Mortgage Credit (371)
                      dissemination of social
                      and economic data (unless  Postal Service (372)
 Commerce and Housing they are an integral part
 Credit (370)         of another function, such  Deposit Insurance (373)
                      as health); general
                      purpose subsidies to       Other Advancement of
                      business, including        Commerce (376)
                      credit subsidies to the
                      housing industry; and the
                      postal service fund and
                      general fund subsidies of
                      that fund.
                      Providing for the
                      transportation of the
                      general public and/or its
                      property, whether local
                      or national and
                      regardless of the
                      particular mode of
                      transportation. Included
                      are construction of        Ground Transportation
                      facilities; purchase of    (401)
                      equipment; research,
 Transportation (400) testing, and evaluation;   Air Transportation (402)
                      provision of
                      communications related to  Water Transportation (403)
                      transportation; operating
                      subsidies for              Other Transportation (407)
                      transportation facilities
                      and industries; and
                      regulatory activities
                      directed specifically
                      toward the transportation
                      industry rather than
                      toward business.
                                                 Community Development
                      Development of physical    (451)
 Community and        facilities or financial
 Regional Development infrastructures designed   Area and Regional
 (450)                to promote viable          Development (452)
                      community economies.
                                                 Disaster Relief and
                                                 Insurance (453)
                                                 Elementary, Secondary, and
                                                 Vocational Education (501)

                      Promoting the extension    Higher Education (502)
 Education, Training, of knowledge and skills,   Research and General
 Employment, and      enhancing employment and   Education Aids (503)
 Social Services      employment opportunities,
 (500)                protecting workplace       Training and Employment
                      standards, and providing
                      services to the needy.     (504)
                                                 Other Labor Services (505)

                                                 Social Services (506)
                      Programs other than        Health Care Services (551)
                      Medicare, whose basic
                      purpose is to promote      Health Research and
 Health (550)         physical and mental        Training (552)
                      health, including the
                      prevention of illness and  Consumer and Occupational
                      accidents.                 Health and Safety (554)
                      Federal hospital
                      insurance and federal
                      supplementary medical
 Medicare (570)       insurance, along with      Medicare (571)
                      general fund subsidies of
                      these funds and
                      associated offsetting
                      receipts.
                                                 General Retirement and
                                                 Disability Insurance
                      Support payments           (excluding Social
                      (including associated      Security) (601)
                      administrative expenses)
                      to persons for whom no     Federal Employee
                      current service is         Retirement and Disability
                      rendered. Included are     (602)
 Income Security      retirement, disability,
 (600)                unemployment, welfare,     Unemployment Compensation
                      and similar programs,      (603)
                      except for social
                      security and income        Housing Assistance (604)
                      security for veterans,
                      which are in other         Food and Nutrition
                      functions.                 Assistance (605)
                                                 Other Income Security
                                                 (609)
                      Federal old age and
                      survivors and disability
 Social Security      insurance trust funds,
 (650)                along with general fund    Social Security (651)
                      subsidies of these funds
                      and associated offsetting
                      collections.
                                                 Income Security for
                                                 Veterans (701)
                      Programs providing
                      benefits and services,     Veterans Education,
                      the eligibility for which  Training, and
                                                 Rehabilitation (702)
 Veterans Benefits    is related to prior
 and Services (700)   military service, but the  Hospital and Medical Care
                      financing of which is not
                      an integral part of the    for Veterans (703)
                      costs of national
                      defense.                   Veterans Housing (704)
                                                 Other Veterans Benefits
                                                 and Services (705)

                      Programs to provide        Federal Law Enforcement
                      judicial services, police  Activities (751)
                      protection, law
                      enforcement (including     Federal Litigative and
 Administration of    civil rights),             Judicial Activities (752)
 Justice (750)        rehabilitation and
                      incarceration of           Federal Correctional
                      criminals, and the         Activities (753)
                      general maintenance of
                      domestic order.            Criminal Justice
                                                 Assistance (754)
                                                 Legislative Functions
                                                 (801)

                                                 Executive Direction and
                                                 Management (802)

                      General overhead cost of   Central Fiscal Operations
                      the federal government,    (803)
                      including legislative and
                      executive activities;      General Property and
 General Government   provision of central       Records Management (804)
 (800)                fiscal, personnel, and
                      property activities; and   Central Personnel
                      provision of services      Management (805)
                      that cannot reasonably be
                      classified in any other    General Purpose Fiscal
                      major function.            Assistance (806)

                                                 Other General Government
                                                 (808)

                                                 Deductions for Offsetting
                                                 Receipts (809)
                      Transactions which
                      directly give rise to      Interest on the Public
                      interest payments or       Debt (901)
                      income (lending) and the
                      general shortfall or       Interest Received by
                      excess of outgo over       On-Budget Trust Funds
 Net Interest (900)   income arising out of      (902)
                      fiscal, monetary, and
                      other policy               Interest Received by
                      considerations and         Off-Budget Trust Funds
                      leading to the creation    (903)
                      of interest-bearing debt
                      instruments (normally the  Other Interest (908)
                      public debt).
                                                 Employer Share, Employee
                                                 Retirement (on Budget)
                                                 (951)

                                                 Employer Share, Employee
                      Offsetting receipts that   Retirement (off Budget)
                      are not included as        (952)
 Undistributed        deductions from outlays
 Offsetting Receipts  in the applicable          Rents and Royalties on the
 (950)                function or subfunction,   Outer Continental Shelf
                      above, and are thus        (953)
                      "undistributed."
                                                 Sales of Major Assets
                                                 (954)

                                                 Other Undistributed
                                                 Offsetting Receipts (959)

Note: Subfunction code 999 is assigned to those budget accounts whose
activities are associated with two or more functions.

Congressional Committee Codes

 Code Congressional Committee
 AU   All authorizing committee
      [Committee on Appropriations]
 AR   Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies

 CJ   Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, The Judiciary, and Related
      Agencies
 DE   Subcommittee on Defense
 DI   Subcommittee on the District of Columbia
 EW   Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development

 FA   Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related
      Programs
 IN   Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies

 LA   Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and
      Related Agencies
 LB   Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch
 MC   Subcommittee on Military Construction
 TR   Subcommittee on Transportation
 TY   Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government

 VA   Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, Housing and Community Development,
      and Independent Agencies

(935364)

Table 1: Format for Account Presentations 5

Legislative Branch 8

Judicial Branch 12

Department of Agriculture 15

Department of Commerce 23

Department of Defense − Military 27

Department of Health and Human Services 32

Department of the Interior 36

Department of Justice 43

Department of Labor 47

Department of State 50

Department of the Treasury 52

Social Security Administration 57

Department of Education 58

Department of Energy 61

Environmental Protection Agency 64

Department of Transportation 65

General Services Administration 70

Department of Housing and Urban Development 71

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 74

Office of Personnel Management 75

Small Business Administration 76

Department of Veterans Affairs 77

Executive Office of the President 79

Federal Drug Control Programs 82

International Assistance Programs 83

Other Defense Civil Programs 86

Corps of Engineers 88

Other Independent Agencies 89

Federal Government Totals 171
  

1. 31 U.S.C. 1104, 1105.

2. A "budget account"--essentially a separate reporting unit for budgetary
purposes--is defined as (1) an item for which appropriations are made in any
appropriation act and
(2) for items not provided for in appropriation acts, an item for which
there is a designated budget account identification code number in the
President's budget. (2 U.S.C. 900(c)(11)).

3. "Off-budget" activities are those which are excluded from "on-budget"
totals by law.

4. The Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2001 consists of
five volumes: (1) the Budget, (2) Analytical Perspectives, (3) the Appendix,
(4) Historical Tables, and (5) a Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget. Each
year, OMB also publishes other supporting documents (e.g., Federal Credit
Supplement, Balances of Budget Authority, and Budget Information for
States).

5. It should be noted that gross obligations, while useful to describe
account-level transactions, overstate department and governmentwide totals.
For example, a given account may include obligations made to another budget
account, which may then be reobligated by the receiving account in the same
fiscal year. Other selection criteria, such as gross budgetary resources or
net outlays, could mitigate this effect but would also produce a different
set of concerns. For a discussion of this and other related issues, see
Budget Account Structure: A Descriptive Overview (GAO/AIMD-95-179 ,
September 18, 1995).

6. The function and subfunction classification system is a way of grouping
budgetary resources according to the national need addressed. The Congress
uses this system in its concurrent resolution on the budget to allocate
resources among competing needs. (See
2 U.S.C. 632.) Each account is generally placed in the single function or
subfunction that best reflects its major purpose, without regard to agency
or organizational distinctions. For discussions of this classification
system, see Budget Issues: Fiscal Year 1996 Agency Spending by Budget
Function (GAO/AIMD-97-95 , May 13, 1997) and Budget Function
Classifications: Origins, Trends, and Implications for Current Uses
(GAO/AIMD-98-67 , February 27, 1998).

7. For financial management purposes, the Department of the Treasury assigns
a unique account code to each separate appropriation within an
appropriations act. Because of consolidations and merges, the President's
submission typically presents a smaller universe of accounts than that
tracked by the Treasury. In 1996 for example, Treasury reported about 1,620
accounts on an outlays basis, excluding divisions due to differing periods
of availability; the Appendix listed about 1,040 accounts on a gross
obligations basis in that fiscal year.
*** End of document. ***