History of the office
It has been an elected position since the 1832 Constitution of Mississippi, which specified a two-year term; prior to this, the state auditor was appointed annually by the governor of Mississippi. The 1868 Constitution expanded the term to four years. The fourth Constitution of Mississippi, ratified in 1890, made the state auditor ineligible to hold consecutive terms, and barred the state auditor and Mississippi State Treasurer, state treasurer from immediately succeeding each other. This measure was implemented as an effort to prevent collusion between the two officeholders, after a series of embezzlements and misuses of public funds during the Reconstruction era. A 1966 constitutional amendment lifted the prohibitions, making the state auditor eligible to serve consecutive terms. In 1986, the Constitution Committee of the Mississippi House of Representatives, Mississippi House voted to approve a proposal to limit the state auditor to a ten-year tenure, but the measure was rejected by the full House after initially being passed by the Mississippi State Senate, state senate. In 1993 some employees in the Department of Audit's investigative division were made law enforcement officers. Originally restricted to exercising the power of arrest only after an individual had been indicted by a court following an auditing investigation, in 2003 the officers were granted full arrest powers and thus permitted to arrest anyone for any crime they detected in the course of their duties. Hamp King was the first certified public accountant to serve as state auditor.Powers, duties, and structure
To be elected state auditor, a person must be at least 25 years old and must have been a resident of Mississippi for at least five years at the time of the election. They are elected to a four-year term without term limits. The state auditor is responsible for auditing state agencies, county governments, school districts, and tertiary educational institutions. They also conduct Data auditing, data audits for public schools and monitor state agencies' inventory. They advise local governments on accounting matters in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (United States), Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and relevant laws, and investigate misuse of public funds. The Department of Audit has approximately 150 employees, including about 40 certified public accountants. It has four divisions: Financial and Compliance Audit Division, Investigative Division, Government Accountability Division, and the Technical Assistance Division. The auditor's salary is $90,000 per year, but is set to increase to $150,000 annually in 2024.List of auditors
Source: ''Mississippi Official & Statistical Register''Territorial auditors (1798–1817)
* Charles B. Howell * Beverly R. Grayson * Park WaltonState auditors (1817–present)
References
Works cited
External links