Accounting standards call for annual spending reports within 180 days of the year’s end. Illinois took 774 days to produce its 2023 report, setting a national record for tardiness.
Illinois just set a national record – its accounting of state spending for 2023 was just released 774 days late, according to Truth in Accounting.
It took Illinois two years and six weeks to figure out its 2023 spending. The
And 2023 was not an anomaly. The state is also over a year behind on the 2024 report.
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s website said she’s not to blame for the late 2024 report: “The Comptroller cannot issue the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report until the Auditor General has completed their audit. The audit for Fiscal Year 2024 has not been completed yet by the Auditor General. For the sake of transparency, the Comptroller has issued an Interim Report while awaiting the completed audit.”
Timely financial reporting isn’t just a best practice – it’s crucial to helping decision makers make informed decisions based upon the most current data available – not based on data more than two years old.
The 180-days standard is designed to ensure the information is relevant and useful to stakeholders and policymakers. A two-year delay in financial reporting would be unthinkable in the private sector.
As the Government Finance Officers Association points out, 43 other states have already released their annual reports for 2024. Illinois routinely denies its decision makers access to information they need to craft policy.
While this may seem like gross incompetence – if not willful neglect – it’s not all that surprising considering the Illinois General Assembly was recently tasked with passing a record $55.2 billion budget after having been given just over 24 hours to review it.
Illinois needs to provide decision makers and taxpayers with the kind of timely financial reporting they need to enact sound policy. Maybe with some solid planning, state leaders could have spared taxpayers the nearly $5,000 per family tax hikes – just since J.B. Pritzker became governor.
