The Washington State Auditor's Office
Summary
Washington's constitutionally elected auditor ran on $62.4 million and 373.1 FTE in FY2026 -- about $7.68 per resident -- and in FY2025 conducted 2,967 audits of the state and its roughly 2,400 local governments, flagging $2.3 million in misappropriated public funds.
What is this organization?
What does it do?
SAO's mandate covers every layer of Washington government⧉: it audits the state's own financial statements annually, covering 168 state agencies, boards and commissions⧉, and independently examines Washington's roughly 2,400 local governments⧉ -- counties, cities, school districts, ports and special-purpose districts -- at least once every three years. Under Initiative 900⧉, voter-approved in 2005, it also runs performance audits testing whether programs could cost less or work better. In fiscal year 2025 that added up to 2,967 audits and engagements⧉, from 839 financial audits to 59 free cybersecurity checkups for local governments.
What does it cost to run — money and people?
Washington's 2025-27 enacted budget⧉ funds SAO at $62.4 million and 373.1 full-time positions for fiscal year 2026 -- more than half of it, $34.2 million and 204.4 , dedicated to local government audit alone. Most of that money isn't general tax revenue: SAO bills the governments it audits directly, through revolving accounts, rather than drawing one lump appropriation the way most agencies do. Measured against Washington's 8.1 million residents⧉ as of April 2025, the FY2026 budget works out to about $7.68 per person.
View data as table
| Local government audit | 34,181 | 204.4 FTE |
|---|---|---|
| Performance audits | 14,767 | 91.0 FTE |
| State government audit | 9,061 | 51.6 FTE |
| Administrative | 1,645 | 9.9 FTE |
| Local gov't budgeting & reporting | 1,259 | 7.5 FTE |
| K-12 budget-drivers audit | 765 | 4.8 FTE |
| Whistleblower program | 679 | 3.9 FTE |
Why is it good for society?
Audit findings aren't just paperwork: any report disclosing malfeasance by a local official is referred to the county prosecutor or federal government for recovery and prosecution⧉, and bond rating agencies rely on these audits⧉ when pricing debt that Washington's cities, counties and school districts sell to build roads, schools and water systems. In fiscal year 2025⧉, 18 of SAO's fraud investigations turned up $2,304,384 in misappropriated public funds and $495,964 in questionable transactions -- money that, without an independent examiner, would likely have stayed hidden inside the very governments that lost it.
- SAO's FY2026 budget skews heavily toward local government audit: $34.2 million and 204.4 of its 373.1 -- 55 percent of the budget -- go to examining Washington's roughly 2,400 local governments.
- In FY2025, SAO's 18 fraud investigations alone identified $2.3 million in misappropriated public funds, separate from the 132 accountability-audit findings and 119 financial-audit findings it issued that year.
Your handles.* Report suspected fraud, waste, or improper government action -- anonymously if you choose -- through SAO's Citizen Hotline and fraud-reporting form. Look up the most recent audit of your own city, county, school district, or state agency in SAO's searchable audit reports database. To be notified as new reports post, sign up for SAO's email alerts.
Sources(7) ▾
- Washington State Legislature, Constitution of the State of Washington (official compiled edition) (2025-12-11) — The Legislature's own officially compiled and currently-amended text of the state constitution -- source for Article III, Section 20 (creating the State Auditor as an elected officer) and the ratification/statehood dates on its title page. Direct stable PDF hosted by leg.wa.gov; no separate archival copy needed. leg.wa.gov · original document
- Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM), Efficient, Effective and Accountable Government -- Agency Activity Inventory: Agency 095, Office of State Auditor (2025-12-11) — OFM's own structured breakdown of SAO's enacted 2025-27 biennial operating budget (ESSB 5167 as passed), by the office's seven budget activities, with separate FY2026 and FY2027 columns for and dollars by fund. This entry's budget and KPIs are the FY2026 column summed across all seven activities. Re-fetched live on 2026-07-16 and confirmed identical to the archived December 2025 snapshot -- the enacted figures have not changed. ofm.wa.gov · original document
- Office of the Washington State Auditor (SAO), What We Do (2026-05-14) — SAO's own plain-language description of its jurisdiction and audit types -- financial/compliance audits, fraud and whistleblower investigations, performance audits -- covering every state agency and local government in Washington. sao.wa.gov · original document
- Office of the Washington State Auditor (SAO), Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2025 (2025-12-19) — SAO's own annual report to the public, covering July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025 (FY2025) -- source for this entry's workload counts (2,967 audits by type, findings, whistleblower/fraud investigations, hotline volume) and the office's FY2025 fraud-recovery figures. Direct stable PDF hosted by sao.wa.gov. sao.wa.gov · original document
- Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM), Washington population growth slowing (April 1, 2025 official population estimate) (2025-06-27) — OFM's own official April 1, 2025 state population estimate -- the standard denominator for Washington per-resident figures (the state-level analog to the Census Bureau's national estimate), used here for the per-resident KPI. ofm.wa.gov · original document
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 43.09.470 -- Performance audits of state agencies, programs, and services. (2025-11-25) — The codified statute (from Initiative 900, approved by voters in November 2005) directing the State Auditor to conduct independent performance audits of state and local government -- source for this entry's performance-audit authority claim. app.leg.wa.gov · original document
- Office of the Washington State Auditor (SAO), State Auditor Pat McCarthy (2026-04-13) — SAO's own biography page for the sitting elected State Auditor -- source for when the current auditor took office. sao.wa.gov · original document
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Washington's 1889 constitution⧉ made the state auditor one of the state's independently elected executive officers, naming the office "auditor of public accounts⧉," with powers and duties left to the Legislature to define (Article III, Section 20) -- the same year Washington entered the Union. Voters elect the auditor statewide to a four-year term, separately from the governor. Pat McCarthy has held the office since 2017⧉, Washington's 11th state auditor and the first woman elected to the post.