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Show Utah Foundation Criticizes State's Audit Setup Sweeping changes in Utah's machinery for post-audit of state funds and records were recommended recom-mended in a research report released re-leased today by Utah Foundation, Founda-tion, the non-profit private tax research agency. The study recommends a constitutional con-stitutional amendment to remove re-move the State Auditor's office from the list of elective officers, with the Auditor to be appointed by and responsible directly to the Legislature. Present auditing procedures are labelled as "largely perfunctory," perfunc-tory," and audit reports issued by the State Auditor "do not meet basic accepted standards of the auditing function." Pointing Point-ing out that the function of auditing aud-iting is a "highly technical one, requiring adequate training and skill in accounting theory and practice, and more particularly in the specific techniques of verification of records and procedures," pro-cedures," the report criticizes the fact that no special qualifications qualifi-cations are established for the Utah State Auditor nor his staff. Moreover, the report notes, the Constitional banon reelection of a State Auditor to succeed himself him-self results in almost a clean sweep every four years in the personnel of that office. Insecurity Inse-curity of tenure accounts for a high turnover of personnel, 55 separate appointments having been made to maintain an average av-erage staff of 15 during the past five-year period. The Utah Foundation study emphasizes the necessity for the auditor to be completely independent inde-pendent of the administrative agencies as well as having had no part in the keeping of the records. From statehood until the reorganization act adopted by the 1941 Legislature, the Utah State Auditor was both the record -keeper and the post-auditor, so that in effect he was auditing his own records. This violation of fundamental accounting ac-counting rules was corrected by the establishment of the Finance Department as the genreal accounting ac-counting office. In theory, the Auditor's election on the general ballot makes him independent of the administration, but the Foundation report notes that in every state election held in Utah, the successful state auditor can- didate has been the one whost; party dominated the particulai election. Since state elections are held in presidential election years, the evidence is that voters pay little attention to qualifications qualifica-tions of Auditor candidates for their duties. Pointing to the trend which in eleven other states has made the state auditor a direct agent of the Legislature, the . report recommends that Utah provide for his appointment by an auditing audit-ing committee consisting of the presiding officers of the two chambers and the minority floor leaders, with a fifth member to be chosen by the other four. It is also recommended that the state auditor be a certified public pub-lic accountant qualified for governmental gov-ernmental auditing. Evidence of the lack of importance impor-tance attached to the auditing function in state government is noted in the fact that Utah Foundation analysts found all copies of the report of the audit made of the State Tax Commission Commis-sion for the period ended June 30, 1947 still in the files of the Auditor's office. |