State Auditor

State auditor - Wikipedia

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State auditors (also known as state comptrollers, state controllers, or state examiners, among others) are fiscal officers lodged in the executive or legislative branches of U.S. state governments who serve as external auditors, program evaluators, financial controllers, bookkeepers, or inspectors general of public funds.

{The office of state auditor may be a creature of the state constitution or one created by statutory law.

Selection

Method

The mode of selecting the state auditor varies among the many states and territories. In 24 states, the state auditor is a constitutional officer elected by the voters or the state legislature for specified terms of office. For example, state auditors in California, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Washington are elected by the voters. Maine and Tennessee are the only states where the state auditor is elected by the legislature. In the remaining states, the state auditor is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the governor or the relevant state legislature.^[2] In those states where the state auditor is appointed by the governor, the appointment is always subject to either legislative nomination or confirmation.^[3]

Quantity

Several states have both an elected auditor serving alongside another auditor that is appointed by and reports exclusively to the legislature. Government auditing arrangements in Minnesota, Utah, and Washington reflect this model. Under such circumstances, the respective jurisdictions of the aforementioned officials is such so that their responsibilities complement one another. In the case of Washington for instance, the state auditor conducts independent audits and investigations of the fiscal condition of local governments and state agencies alike, while the legislative auditor evaluates state agency financial management and performance in support of the legislature's oversight functions.^[4][5] This division of government auditing responsibility is in keeping with two core principles of state and local government auditing in the United States:

1. A state auditor elected by the people is functionally independent from all other public officials and is therefore duly empowered to superintend and verify the condition of public accounts, funds, and resources without fear of reprisal. Barring other constitutional remedies, only the voters can remove and replace an elected state auditor. This institutional independence combats corruption and promotes government accountability directly to the electorate in the spirit of Jacksonian democracy.^[6]
2. A legislative auditor subject to the direction and supervision of the state legislature ensures that the legislature, which appropriates funds and establishes program goals in public policy, will ultimately review program expenditures and results. Thus, state government is accountable to the people through their elected representatives.^[7]