About NMOSA
The Office of the New Mexico State Auditor is a constitutionally established office, allowing the State Auditor to serve two consecutive four year terms. Additionally, the Audit Act, §§ 12-6-1 to 12-6-14, NMSA 1978, provides the laws in which this Office operates.
The Office has two statutory purposes: (1) to ensure that the financial affairs of every agency shall be thoroughly examined and audited each year by the state auditor, personnel of the state auditor’s office designated by the state auditor or independent auditors approved by the state auditor and (2) cause the financial affairs and transactions of an agency to be audited in whole or in part. Section 12-6-3, NMSA 1978. These two statutory purposes grant the State Auditor the authority to conduct both financial and special audits.
The Office consists of thirty two employees divided between three divisions: the Financial Audit Division, the Special Investigation Division and the Administrative Division.
The Financial Audit Division consists of fourteen employees who are responsible for ensuring that over 600 governmental entities receive an annual audit. Because the Office has limited resources, a majority of the financial audits are conducted by IPA’s whom partner with the Office. The staff of the financial audit division must ensure that the work conducted by the IPA’s maintains a level of quality. Therefore, in addition to conducting audits of their own, the financial audit staff must perform a certain level of quality control of the IPA’s. This quality control is accomplished through conducting annual work paper reviews of the IPA’s and performing report reviews of the financial audit reports submitted by IPA’s on an ongoing basis. Furthermore, the division is responsible for updating the annual Audit Rule.
The Special Investigation Division consists of seven employees who are responsible for conducting audits of any government agency the State Auditor chooses to examine. In addition to the seven employees, the Los Alamos National Labs has partnered with the Office, to allow one of their seasoned employees to assist the division on a temporary basis. The division has the ability to conduct or direct a variety of audits including agreed upon procedures, performance audits, or any other special audits the State Auditor deems necessary. In the first time of the Office’s history, this division has employed two investigators whose responsibilities are to gather facts and assist the auditors within this division. Additionally, this Office has created a hotline to allow citizens of the State of New Mexico to report any financial fraud, waste or abuse. This unprecedented tool allows individuals to report 24 hours a day, seven days a week in an anonymous fashion is they choose.
The Administrative Division consists of eleven employees who are responsible for managing the day to day operations of the State Auditor’s Office. The division oversees Legal, Human Resources, Training and Recruitment, Information Technology, Procurement, Financial and Budget, and Legislative and Public Affairs. In addition, the division spends a significant amount of time managing the contracts entered into between government agencies and the IPA’s.
NM Office of the State Auditor Organizational Chart (PDF) 46.23 KB
