This year’s annual report includes an essay on the debt crisis facing many countries around the world. Written by Research Director Christopher J. Waller and Senior Economist Fernando Martin, “Sovereign Debt: A Modern Greek Tragedy” explains in simple terms the roots of the current crisis in Greece and other parts of Europe. In his column, St. Louis Fed President and CEO James Bullard also addresses the crisis, calling it a wake-up call for the U.S. Other features of the report are a message from our new chairman of the board, Ward Klein; lists of other board members, advisers and top managers; and highlights of our work in 2011 and the people who did that work. The Bank’s complete financial statements are also available for review in a separate PDF. (See below)

2011 Annual Report

Video on “Sovereign Debt: A Modern Greek Tragedy”

This 10-minute video captures many of the key points of the essay. Meet the co-authors and see the data that help answer the question “What’s going on?”

Spanish Translation

The annual report essay, “Sovereign Debt: A Modern Greek Tragedy,” is available in Spanish, too.

Essay in Spanish

Financial Statements
from the Annual Report

In 2011, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors engaged Deloitte & Touche LLP (D&T) to audit the combined and individual financial statements of the Reserve Banks and those of the consolidated LLC entities. Each LLC will reimburse the Board of Governors for the fees related to the audit of its financial statements from the entity’s available net assets. In 2011, D&T also conducted audits of internal control over financial reporting for each of the Reserve Banks and the consolidated LLC entities. Fees for D&T’s services totaled $8 million, of which $2 million was for the audits of the consolidated LLC entities. To ensure auditor independence, the Board of Governors requires that D&T be independent in all matters relating to the audits. Specifically, D&T may not perform services for the Reserve Banks or others that would place it in a position of auditing its own work, making management decisions on behalf of the Reserve Banks, or in any other way impairing its audit independence. In 2011, the Bank did not engage D&T for any non-audit services.

Financial Statements