Legislative Auditor history

While there is no specific mention of an auditor in that Constitution, it is clear that by 1848 Louisiana had a state auditor, as seen in legislation passed in the 1848 Extra Legislative Session.

In 1907, the Legislature created a “Special Agent” to the state auditor whose job was to travel around Louisiana and examine the books of every parish tax collector to make sure they were collecting all required taxes and sending the proper amount to the state.

The Division was established by the Territorial Legislature with the passage of the Fiscal Procedures Act of 1955 (Art.

The first Legislative Auditor was appointed January 1, 1956.

The Legislative Audit Act became law as Chapter 249, Session Laws of 1967.

In 1971, the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee replaced the Legislative Audit Committee as the oversight body for audit review.

Article V, Section 10(4) of the 1972 Montana Constitution mandates a legislative post-audit function.

In 1973, legislators established the Legislative Audit Advisory Council to provide general oversight of the Legislative Auditor’s operations and to serve as a mediator when audit recipients objected to or had questions about a report’s findings.

In 1975, its duties were expanded when a Program Evaluation Division was created within the office to examine the management and impact of state-funded programs.

The complexity of special audit requests has increased, and the sunset concept was introduced in 1977, resulting in program auditing for continued existence.

Federal compliance auditing is required by the Federal Single Audit Act of 1985.