The federal government does not follow the accounting practices that corporations are required to follow. Instead, the government follows regulations created by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, a government entity.
The government uses a method of accounting that does not require all liabilities to be reported. This practice allows elected officials to hide debt from the federal balance sheet that is associated with future payments, including items such as pension and retirement benefits. The estimated liabilities not included on federal balance sheets exceed $67 trillion.