Conducting legal research to determine whether an organization should be classified as a government, and confirming the continued existence of governments, their administrative structure, and their activities; ultimately, counting the number of governments by type of government.

Government Organization - 2012 Methodology [<1.0 MB]

Government Employment and Payroll

Obtaining the number of people employed by governments, by full-time and part-time status, and the payroll amounts.

Government Employment & Payroll - 2012 Methodology [<1.0 MB]

Government Finance

Obtaining detailed information about the revenues, expenditures, debts, and assets of governments. Financial information is collected from multiple sources:

State Governments

Data include state-run universities and other public agencies that are dependent on the state government, even if their financial accounts are computed separately from the state budget. Details:

State Government Finance – 2012 Methodology [<1.0 MB]

Local Governments

Such as counties, cities, townships, and special districts.

State & Local Government Finance – 2012 Methodology [<1.0 MB]

Government Finances Collected by Topic Instead of by Type of Government

Governments often treat financial accounts for these topics separately from their other activities, and they often are conducted by different types and levels of government:

Public School Finances

Details on the collection and methodology of Public Elementary-Secondary Education Finance Data may be found in the introduction of the report.

Publication

Public Education Finances: 2012

May 22, 2014

This 2012 report presents data on the financial activity of public elementary and secondary school systems.

Public Pensions

Obtaining detailed information about the revenues, expenditures, debts, and assets of governments. Financial information is collected from multiple sources:

State and Locally Administered Defined Benefit Systems-2012 Methodology [<1.0 MB]

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