Brazil's President, Dilma Rousseff, has been kicked out of office for using accounting maneuvers in violation of the country's Fiscal Responsibility Law. It appears her largest offense is diverting funds to pay for other government spending.
This practice and other government accounting gimmicks are commonplace in the US. Since the Lyndon B. Johnson administration, Congresses and presidents have diverted money that was supposed to fund one government program, but went to another. One example is how politicians use the money that was supposed to be put into a Social Security trust fund, but instead used it for other government spending.
At the state and local levels of government, elected officials have used money that should have gone to fund pensions and used it to pay for politically popular programs and services.
Just like Rousseff, by diverting money away from Social Security and pensions, elected officials have been able to increase government spending without raising taxes. Each of the states, except Vermont, has a "Fiscal Responsibility Law," better known as a balanced budget requirement. But many states, especially Illinois and New Jersey, are deeply in debt, despite this rule.
All of this begs the question, "Why haven't our elected officials been kicked out of office?" The answer is in Brazil accounting gimmicks are impeachable offenses. In the US, they are legal and how politicians get re-elected.