Auditor General briefs House Oversight Committee on audits, subpoena power and public reporting

The Office of the Auditor General told the House Oversight Committee that it conducts financial, performance and investigative audits intended to provide independent facts and recommendations to improve state government operations.

Auditor General Doug Ringler and Deputy Auditor General Laura Hurst presented an overview of the office’s role, statutory basis and audit products, explaining how reports are structured and how agencies respond and follow up on recommendations. Ringler said, “We are a legislative agency. We’re here to be independent fact finders and fact providers to assist you in your decision making.”

Why it matters: Audit reports can identify material weaknesses, projected cost savings or risks to public safety and are referred to this committee under House rules. The office’s work informs legislators and executive-branch managers and can prompt corrective action, follow-up audits and, in cases of potential criminality, referrals to prosecutors.

What the office does and how it reports The auditors described three primary audit products: financial audits (assurances about financial statements), performance audits (comparisons of applicable criteria to agency activity to assess efficiency and effectiveness) and investigative audits (limited-scope reviews of alleged fraud, waste or abuse). Hurst described the office’s shift toward more performance audits, saying, “We are trying to tilt that a little bit towards more performance audits because we do find the performance audits provide, more recommendations and…