About performance audit

Citizens gave the State Auditor’s Office authority to conduct performance audits in November 2005 with the passage of Initiative 900.

Quick facts:

• We've conducted more than 50 performance audits and reviews of more than 100 state and local governments, programs and services.
• We've identified almost $1.3 billion in potential five-year savings and increased revenue.
• State and local governments have fully or partially instituted 86 percent of our recommendations, and identified $833 million in actual savings or additional revenue.

 K-12 Education - Audit Report and School District Profiles

The pressure to spend K-12 education dollars wisely has never been greater. Teachers, families and students would all agree that classroom instruction is the most important aspect of education. We conducted this audit to identify strategies to control the cost of non-instructional activities that the state and individual school districts may wish to use to shift dollars to the classroom.
The State Auditor's Office produced a data profile for each school district and developed an interactive website to display these profiles to users, school districts and the public. The profiles include district demographics, student achievement data, and expenditure data. This Interactive District Profile Spreadsheet allows you to review data about your school district, other school districts, and district peer groups.
To view the full K12 Education Spending audit report click here.

Business Regulation Inventory

The Auditor's Office has begun a series of audits designed to identify opportunities for the state to improve the way it interacts with businesses. We started the project by compiling an inventory of more than 1,300 business permits, licenses and inspections administered by 26 state agencies that regulate business activity. Future audits will examine state agencies' processes for updating their regulations, improving permit processing time and efficiently targeting business inspections. Click here to view the inventory.

State Government Review

In 2011, we launched our Idea List for state government. The list contains Idea Papers, which:

• Examine services that may be candidates for future performance audits or reviews.
• Identify opportunities for state governments to work better, cost less and deliver results that matter to citizens.