accounting gimmicks

Date Shifting / Fiscal Transparency / Fiscal Illusion (Congressional Glossary)

From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Date Shifting / Fiscal Transparency / Fiscal Illusion One of the budgetary maneuvers used by Congress. Congress can shift scheduled payments for contracts, or even for federal employee salaries, by a few days in order to move expenditures from one fiscal year to another. For … Read more

“Emergency” Spending / Emergency (CongressionalGlossary.com)

From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms “Emergency” Spending / Emergency photo credit: vonderauvisuals Spending with the “emergency” designation does not count against budget caps. While often used for one-time, unforeseen events, this designation has also been used to circumvent budget limits. For example, spending for the census has been designated as … Read more