State auditor

For example, state auditors in California, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Washington are elected by the voters.

These audits may be concerned with rendering an opinion on the basic financial statements of governmental entities, verifying regulatory compliance, assessing the strength and design of internal controls, or evaluating program performance.

This independence, required by Government Auditing Standards, is guaranteed by either direct election of the voters or by manner of legislative appointment.

Instead, inspectors general serve as an objective assurance and consulting activity to either the duly elected governor or individual state agencies, with a remit specifically tailored to investigating corruption within public office and recommending more efficient business practices in the delivery of public services.

Bookkeepers are independently elected constitutional officers whose principal duty is to scrutinize, control, and record the disbursement of public funds paid out of the state treasury.

Other duties may be assigned to bookkeepers by law, such as the administration of unclaimed property, securities and insurance regulation, or the auditing of local government finances.

[2] In fact, the elected financial controllers in Arkansas, Indiana, South Dakota, and Wyoming are designated as "state auditor.

This etymological discrepancy is the result of the government accounting profession evolving over the course of American history and provides, in part, for many variations on the conceptual models.

Some state auditors perform functions altogether unrelated to public-sector accounting or auditing.

However, no other functional responsibilities within the government machinery applicable to financial controllership have been assigned to the South Dakota state auditor.

In fact, nearly 5,000 local governments which altogether spend some $40 billion annually come under the state auditor's purview.

In short, their work combats corruption and keeps government accountable for the efficient and effective use of tax dollars.

In Colorado for instance, the state auditor reports on the effectiveness of health exchanges and marijuana legalization.