North Carolina’s overall financial health looks to be in good shape, according to an audit of the State of NC’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR), published by the Office of the State Controller.
A new performance audit from the NC Office of the State Auditor concurs with State Treasurer Brad Briner and the NC State Health Plan Board of Trustees that the State Health Plan is in serious financial trouble.
While North Carolina has made strides in government transparency, many of its tools remain cumbersome, inaccessible, or incomplete, making it difficult for taxpayers to track how their money is spent. A truly accountable government requires a modern, user-friendly system that provides real-time financial data and ensures public oversight at every level.
The first week of January, Triangle Business Journal ran a story with the headline, “Raleigh Convention Center director wants to double its size.” In it, Doug Grissom, director of the Raleigh Convention Center, said there was more demand than the center could meet and that he’d like to double the space available for events. “We’d...
RALEIGH — Eileen Norcross, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, authored the center’s annual Ranking the States by Fiscal Condition, pulling 2013 data, the most recent available, from the 50 states’ Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports. Those are the states’ official, audited financial statements. The research looked at each state’s short- and long-term debt, other major fiscal considerations, unfunded pensions, and health care benefits.
RALEIGH — The State Employees Association of North Carolina also recommends legislation to curtail pervasive secrecy surrounding billions of dollars in investments; reviews by the state Attorney General’s Office, North Carolina Secretary of State’s Securities Division, and U.S. Attorney’s Office; tougher auditing of the retirement system; and IRS investigations.
RALEIGH — Recent media reports have floated the notion that the state’s business community is responsible for retiring $2.5 billion in debt to the federal government for underfunded unemployment benefits. But according to state government's annual financial report, there is no dispute about the identity of the borrower. "In February 2009, because of depleted cash balances,” states the 2012 report, “the State began borrowing from the U.S. Treasury to ensure the uninterrupted payment of State unemployment benefits.”
RALEIGH — The state has put each taxpayer $14,800 in debt, A report from the Institute for Truth in Accounting says. The financial burden on North Carolinians is worse than that on taxpayers in 34 other states, landing not too far behind California and New York on a scale of indebtedness.
RALEIGH — Mecklenburg and Wake, the state’s largest and second largest counties respectively, are the other two counties that scored an “A.” Each has more than 900,000 residents, in contrast to Yadkin with just over 38,000.
RALEIGH — The Institute for Truth in Accounting says North Carolina is violating the state’s constitutional balanced budget requirement, because the state does not fund its retirement system adequately.
RALEIGH — The state treasurer’s office made million-dollar and billion-dollar mistakes in reporting its investments during the most recent fiscal year, a state audit has found. The audit said the errors occurred “because new staff prepared the information, and their work was not effectively supervised and reviewed.”
