Why Auditor?
Why run for Massachusetts State Auditor without a background in accounting? Because the role of State Auditor is not that of an actual auditor. The state directly and indirectly employs many people who have those credentials, and also pays outside audit firms such as KPMG millions of dollars per year to assist with audit and financial reporting verification.
The State Auditor is the only statewide, constitutional officer elected by the PEOPLE of the Commonwealth who has the authority to audit the state GOVERNMENT on behalf of the people. No other elected or appointed official has the authority or mandate to provide the voters and taxpayers with a report card on governmental operations, policy-making and spending decisions. The government must be at least as accountable to the people as it requires the people to be to the government.
Beyond assessing the annual operations of state and municipal government, the Auditor also has an obligation to weigh-in on day-to-day decisions about to be made by the government with regard to privatization, and outsourcing of services. In addition, the Auditor should make clear to the people what total spending per program and beneficiary is, including analysis of overhead costs, and comparing those costs to similar functions as they are handled by the private sector.
With billions of taxpayer dollars being spent in millions of transactions every year,someone has to give the people the information and tools they need to understand what goes on. That someone should be the State Auditor.
Tags: Accountability, Auditor, Massachusetts, Taxes
