A little over a year ago, the state of Iowa passed a bill that “would effectively neuter the state auditor,” as we wrote in Route Fifty.The gist of the bill was to constrain the auditor’s ability to require that state agencies hand over documents that are essential to a fair and complete audit – including records in the areas of education, criminal justice, medication and more.

“What’s the point of an audit if the auditee can tell the auditor where they aren’t allowed to look?” the state’s auditor Rob Sand asked rhetorically at the time.Well things have just gotten worse. On February 19, the Iowa Senate passed a bill allowing Iowa agencies to hire private CPA firms for their audits, rather than having the audit done by the state auditor. The bill is wending its way through the House and ultimately may well wind up on the governor’s desk.There’s no reason to necessarily believe that private CPA firms wouldn’t do their jobs fairly and well, but the fact is that an elected auditor in Iowa is beholden only to the voters who put that person in office. On the other hand, when a hand-picked outside auditor takes on that job there’s always the risk that they’ll want to please the people who write the checks.

"This bill would make it so that the voters choose the State Auditor, and if the administration didn't like their choice, they'd pat the voters on the head, and pick someone else," Sand told us. 

"That doesn't even address the fact that private billing rates are generally 30-60% higher per hour than our office, nor the fact that the private sector is looking for workers just as much as we are, calling into question whether firms would bid and whether their work would be timely," he added.

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