When voters show up to the polls on election day, they are usually aware of the roles and functions of what most elected officials do, especially at the federal level. However, at the state level, there are often positions that don’t get nearly enough coverage, which can lead to voters asking what the person in that position does. One such role is the State Auditor General.
The position of State Auditor General was created in 1809 and was not an elected position until 1850. Before that, the person trying to get the role was appointed by the PA governor. Just like the State Treasurer, the PA Constitution says that the Auditor General can only serve two four-year terms. The State Treasurer can serve as Auditor General, but only after they have been out of the office of treasurer for four years.
According to the Department of Auditor General, “The mission of the department of the Auditor General is to serve the people of Pennsylvania by improving government accountability, transparency, and the effective use of taxpayer dollars.” Their job is to make sure the money the state gets is used effectively, and to conduct audits if the money is mismanaged.
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There are four types of audits that a State Auditor General can do. They are Attestation Engagements, Compliance Audits, Financial Audits, and Performance Audits. The first type of audits, Attestation Engagements, are done using specific criteria to come up with a conclusion. The goal of this type of audit is to get a finding through only data with no personal opinion involved.
The second type of audits, Compliance Audits, are done to make sure auditees are complying with the law. One such audit that was done recently was on Warren Hospital in Warren, PA, which was done “to determine whether this facility reported any potentially eligible extraordinary expense claims for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023.” The result of the audit, “disclosed that one of the two reported potentially eligible extraordinary expense claims met the criteria to qualify as an extraordinary expense claim.”
The third type of audits, financial audits, are the ones that most people know about. These are the types of audits that are done to make sure that state government entities are correctly reporting the financial information to the state. This can be as simple as looking at quarterly treasury reports to make sure that financial reports with mistakes have been amended.
The fourth type of audits, performance audits, are used to check that government programs and activities are meeting the goals and objectives. Oftentimes, the state government will give funding to programs that align with the state government’s values, such as additional funding to charter schools or an economic development plan with a non-profit. It is the job of the Auditor General to make sure these funds are being used for their intended purposes and that if they are being used for a project, that project is still running in a timely manner.
