Watching Out for Your Tax Dollars: Secretary of State Tobias Read Releases FY 24 Keeping Oregon Accountable Report

Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read today released the “Keeping Oregon Accountable” report, which covers data from the two major financial audits conducted in fiscal year 2024.

“With all the chaos happening right now, Oregon families are tracking every dollar that comes in and goes out — and this report helps the state do the same thing,” said Secretary of State Tobias Read. “The Keeping Oregon Accountable report holds agencies responsible for how they manage Oregonians’ tax dollars, and it gives us a clear picture of where and how money is getting spent. The results from this year show that things are improving, but more must be done to catch errors and prevent waste. I hope lawmakers and all Oregonians will take note.”

Every year, the Secretary of State Audits Division conducts two major financial audits: the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report and the Statewide Single Audit. The Keeping Oregon Accountable report provides a high-level summary of both of these financial audits to the public.

The federal government requires audits of the state’s financial statements and compliance with federal program requirements for Oregon to continue receiving federal assistance, which totaled $20.7 billion in fiscal year 2024.

Overall, auditors found some positive trends. These included:

• The opinions on the state’s financial statements were unmodified, or clean, which occurs when the financial statements are fairly presented in conformance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
• Auditors identified no material weaknesses in the financial audit— meaning there were no severe deficiencies that would have impacted the financial statements.
• The dollar amount of proposed adjustments, where an agency must fix an accounting error in their financial statements, has been trending downward the last few years.
• Two federal program opinions were qualified this year, decreasing from seven in the prior two years.

However, auditors still identified significant control weaknesses and noncompliance at two federal programs: the Block Grants for Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse and the Block Grants for Community Mental Health Services Programs. These weaknesses resulted in what auditors call “modified” opinions, meaning internal controls were inadequate to prevent or detect significant noncompliance.

The federal granting agencies are responsible for following up on audit findings, as they have the authority to enforce grant requirements. Failure to address critical control weaknesses could include consequences, like sanctions or a change in future funding, or it could be an opportunity for the granting agency to clarify its requirements.

Read the full report on the Secretary of State website.