Why does the debt only change once a day? Why doesn Treasury keep a rolling tab?
Our current accounting system produces the Public Debt Outstanding amount each morning around 11:30 A.M. ET. Our system relies on reporting entities (for example, Federal Reserve Banks) to report a variety of Treasury security information at the end of the day. On the following business day, our accounting system processes this information and generates the Public Debt Outstanding for the previous day. Although we continually look for methods to improve our process, daily accounting is still the most effective, efficient, and accurate way to account for the debt.
