West Virginia State Auditor
Article X, Section 3 of the Constitution of West Virginia provides that "[n]o money shall be drawn from the treasury but in pursuance of an appropriation made by law, and on a warrant issued thereon by the auditor..."[3] This constitutional mandate effectively designates the state auditor as the bookkeeper of state government.[7][8][9][10] However, the state auditor is not responsible for statewide financial accounting and reporting or the design and enforcement of the internal control system.[11] In this sense, the state auditor's office performs a role similar to that carried out by accounts payable departments in the private sector.Foremost among them, the state auditor is ex officio "chief inspector and supervisor of public offices".[12][13][14] As such, the state auditor's office investigates waste, fraud, and abuse in state agencies and local governments, supervises local government finances, and audits West Virginia's approximately 700 political subdivisions, be they counties, cities, towns, or school districts.