The Arkansas state auditor (formally known as the auditor of state) is a constitutional officer within 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 In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. Thirty-five individuals have occupied the office of state auditor since statehood. The incumbent is

Dennis Milligan Dennis Lee Milligan (born October 24, 1957) is the current Arkansas State Auditor following the 2022 election. He previously served as Treasurer of Arkansas. For that position he won the Republican Party nomination in the primary election on ...

, a Republican who took office in 2023.

Powers and duties

In Arkansas, the state auditor serves as the general accountant or "bookkeeper" of state government. As such, the auditor is responsible for preauditing claims against the state, issuing

warrants Warrant may refer to: * Warrant (law), a form of specific authorization ** Arrest warrant, authorizing the arrest and detention of an individual ** Search warrant, a court order issued that authorizes law enforcement to conduct a search for eviden ...

on the state treasury in payment of claims approved,

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entity, economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activit ...

for monthly revenues, expenditures, and cash balances by fund, enforcing the state's

unclaimed property In property law, lost, mislaid, and abandoned property are categories of the common law of property which deals with personal property or chattel which has left the possession of its rightful owner without having directly entered the possessio ...

laws, and administering

payroll A payroll is a list of employment, employees of a company who are entitled to receive compensation as well as other work benefits, as well as the amounts that each should obtain. Along with the amounts that each employee should receive for time ...

to state legislators, elected executive branch officials and the judiciary. While the state auditor is the general accountant for the state, he or she is not the state's

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- ...

, which in the public sector is typically responsible for statewide

financial accounting Financial accounting is a branch of accounting concerned with the summary, analysis and reporting of financial transactions related to a business. This involves the preparation of Financial statement audit, financial statements available for pu ...

and reporting. That function is instead performed by the

Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (commonly DFA within the state) is a department of the government of Arkansas under the Governor of Arkansas. The DFA is a cabinet level agency in the executive branch of government respons ...

, which operates under the direction and supervision of the

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

. Similarly, the state auditor does not conduct

financial Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

or performance postaudits of state agencies and local governments. Rather, that is the job of the Division of Legislative Audit, whose head is appointed by and reports to the

state legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...

. Instead, the state auditor's office occupies a role similar to that performed by accounts payable departments in the private sector.

History

The auditor's office was created on July 4, 1819, when Arkansaw Territory was created from the

Missouri Territory The Territory of Missouri was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 4, 1812, until August 10, 1821. In 1819, the Territory of Arkansas was created from a portion of its southern area. In 1821, a southe ...

. All constitutional officers of Arkansas were appointed by a joint session of the

General Assembly of Arkansas Territory The General Assembly of the Territory of Arkansas, commonly known as the General Assembly, was the legislature of the U.S. territory of Arkansas, from 1819 to 1835. The General Assembly was directly elected, albeit on a restricted franchise. I ...

, except the governor. Upon statehood in 1836, the position took the current name. When the Arkansas Constitution of 1868 was ratified during the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...

direct election Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they want to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen ...

of constitutional officers was among the reforms listed in the new document. Auditors were elected to four-year terms in partisan elections. This system remained in place when the Arkansas Constitution of 1874 was adopted, which remains in effect today. Prior to Amendment 63 in 1982, the term length for constitutional offices in Arkansas, including Auditor, was two years.

List of Arkansas state auditors

Notes

References

External links

Auditor of State - Arkansas Official Website
{{Arkansas statewide elected officials

State Auditor State auditors (also known as state comptrollers, state controllers, or state examiners, among others) are fiscal officers lodged in the executive or legislative branches of U.S. state governments who serve as external auditors, program eval ...