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The Transparency Score Report assesses each state based on such
criteria as audit quality, clarity of retirement liabilities and
how clearly finances are presented free of distortion.
Researchers found Illinois’ standing is further hampered by its
delay in publishing its fiscal year 2023 Annual Comprehensive
Financial Reports, which offers the most accurate view of a
state’s financial outlook.
“Illinois is chronically late on issuing its financial report,”
Truth in Accounting founder and CEO Sheila Weinberg told The
Center Square. “It's past June 30, 2024, and their June 2023
financial report still has not been issued. They made budget
decisions without taking into consideration the important
information in this and their audited financial reports. Either,
you know, they can't get the audit done on time or the
comptroller's office can't accumulate all the data on time.
Something dysfunctional there is going on.”
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office has released an
interim 2023 report.
“The Comptroller cannot issue the Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report until the Auditor General has completed their audit,” the
Comptroller’s website said. “The audit for Fiscal Year 2023 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.”
While no states received a top score of 100 for most transparent
financial reporting, Weinberg said it’s easy to see why Illinois
lands where it does in the study. The state’s 2022 report also
came with a disclaimer of opinion, meaning auditors were unable
to provide assurance that the financial statements were free of
material misstatement.
“Illinois is the poster child for bad budgeting and accounting,”
she said. “They use massive budgeting gimmicks to claim that
their budgets balanced when it really is not and they do not pay
what their actuaries say they should pay into their pension
plans. The governor's claiming he’s balancing the budget while
he's shorting the pension plans by $5 billion a year.”
Weinberg feared conditions for taxpayers may get worse before
they get better.
“They will continue to have to raise taxes. The pension benefits
will continue to start to crowd out more and more of the basic
services and benefits,” she said. “Taxpayers will have to pay
more than $37,000 in the future to pay for bills that have
already been incurred to date and they will not receive any
government services or benefits in relation to those taxes.”
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