Issue Position: IMPLEMENT Performance Audits

Issue Position

Financial audits focus on how taxpayer money is spent. Performance audits identify how well it is spent. It is vital to implement performance audits, providing the public with greater oversight of the effectiveness of their tax expenditure, helping public sector managers and elected officials ensure that organizational objectives are successfully met in an economical and effective manner.

In addition to financial audits, Utah's statute authorizes the State Auditor to conduct performance audits in order to determine:

Whether administrators faithfully complied with legislative intent

Operations were conducted in an effective, and cost-efficient manner

Programs have been effective in accomplishing the intended objectives

I plan to launch the use of performance audits of government programs. The goal of a performance and efficiency audit is to assess how well taxpayer dollars are being spent.

As the #2 Legislator in the House responsible for the entire state budget, I have often wondered to what extent the funds the Legislature appropriated to State agencies REALLY went to serve the Utah taxpayer as intended. There was little independent verification of how funds were spent and whether agencies were being as efficient as possible with taxpayer funds.

If elected as Utah's next State Auditor, I will be looking into every corner of the state to find ways to make our tax dollars go as far as they can and to make sure they are used for the purposes intended.

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