The auditor of public accounts of Kentucky is an elected constitutional officer in the

executive branch The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

of the U.S. state of

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. Forty-seven individuals have occupied the auditor's office since statehood. The incumbent is

Allison Ball Allison Joy Ball (born August 27, 1981) is an American attorney and politician who is the Kentucky State Auditor. She served as the Kentucky State Treasurer from 2016 to 2024. Ball is a member of the Republican Party. Early years and career ...

, a Republican.

Powers and duties

The auditor of public accounts "...ensures that public resources are protected, accurately valued, properly accounted for, and effectively employed to raise the quality of life of Kentuckians." More specifically, the auditor of public accounts conducts an array of external audits which examine financial condition,

legal compliance Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the art ...

information technology systems Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data and information processing, and storage. Information technolo ...

, and program performance in governmental entities. The auditor's scope of authority extends to all state agencies, every public or private entity that receives state funds, all state-owned or operated enterprises such as prisons and public works, and every county, municipality, and school district in the commonwealth.

History

Initially, the auditor of public accounts served as a

comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

and tax collector for state government. The Reorganization Act of 1936 transferred those functions to other state agencies and established the auditor's office as "...an impartial agency entirely independent of state administration and charged with the responsibility of auditing the accounts and financial transactions of all Commonwealth spending agencies." Government auditing remains the primary function of the auditor's office to this day.

List of auditors

https://www.auditor.ky.gov/About/Pages/AuditorsOfficeHistory.aspx

References

{{U.S. State Auditors