SF 2311 (LSB 6020XS (3) 90)

SENATE FILE 2311

BY  BOUSSELOT

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to audits of state entities by certified public accountants.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 11.2, subsection 1, Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  The auditor of state shall annually, and more often if deemed necessary, audit the state and all state officers and departments receiving or expending state funds, except that the accounts, records, and documents of the treasurer of state shall be audited daily.  Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, when subject to an audit under this subsection, a department may fulfill the requirements of this subsection by instead employing a certified public accountant to perform the audit and submitting the results to the auditor of state.
    Sec. 2.  Section 11.32, Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   11.32  Certified accountants employed.
   Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the auditor of state or a department, with the prior written permission of the state executive council, from employing certified public accountants for specific assignments. The auditor of state or a department may employ such accountants for any assignment expressly reserved to the auditor of state or for the purposes set forth in section 11.2, subsection 1. Payments, after approval by the executive council, shall be made to the accountants so employed from funds from which the auditor of state would have been paid had the auditor of state performed the assignment, or if such specific funds are not available, then authorization of the expense by the executive council shall be requested, and if authorized shall be paid from the appropriations addressed in section 7D.29.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
    Under current law, the auditor of state (auditor) is required to annually, and more often if deemed necessary, audit the state and all state officers and departments receiving or expending state funds. This bill authorizes a department subject to such an audit to instead employ a certified public accountant (CPA) to perform the audit and submit the results of the audit to the auditor. The bill requires the CPAs to be paid for by moneys which the auditor would have been paid had the auditor performed the assignment or appropriations to the executive council.