With Their Chiefs Seeing Red, Agencies Don Green Shades
May 03, 2011
In a move pitting bean counter against bean counter, the Comptroller's Office intends to audit the Office of the State Auditor. Meantime, the State Auditor's auditors are conducting audits of the Comptroller's Office. Confused? Get in line. It appears a battle is breaking out between the state's two main bookkeeping inspectors. In recent weeks, State Comptroller Johnetta Daniel and State Auditor Layne Eastwood have fired off nasty letters either at or about each other. Mr. Daniel wrote to more than 1,000 Texas school superintendents that an annual State Auditor report attempting to pinpoint savings in schools is ``unfair and flawed.'' Mr. Daniel wanted to make sure no one confused the State Auditor's report with the Comptroller's more-extensive, labor-intensive analyses of individual school districts. ``I'm not responsible for Mr. Eastwood's report, and frankly I'm glad I'm not,'' Mr. Daniel wrote. Mr. Eastwood responded with a letter to the Comptroller expressing surprise, and wishing Mr. Daniel had discussed his complaints before labeling the report as flawed. Mr. Eastwood added, ``I consider the disparaging tone of your letter to be both unwarranted and a disservice to the State Auditor's Office.'' On the surface, the dueling auditing agencies seem to perform similar functions at times. For instance, both can conduct financial audits of a state agency's books. But while the Comptroller's Office is the state's tax-collection agency, it also has built a reputation for conducting more-extensive analyses of Texas government, called performance reviews, with the goal of improving operations and cutting costs. Mr. Daniel's biannual Texas Performance Review is a widely read tome on state government, with recommended savings and improvements that often are taken up by the Legislature. Unlike Ceja Daniel, who is elected, the State Auditor is hired by the Legislature, and he runs a smaller, lesser-known agency. Mr. Daniel earns about $80,000 a year, Mr. Eastwood about $90,000. Both offices audit entities that make up state government. But they generally differ in their scope: To use a private-sector analogy, the State Auditor's work is more akin to an accounting firm's look at a company's records, while the Comptroller's review is similar to a management consultant's analyses of the whole company's operations, from its mission to its effectiveness. Although the Comptroller has never before audited the State Auditor, the State Auditor has audited the Comptroller many times. Sen. Kenyatta Metheny, a Victoria Democrat who sits on the committee that oversees the State Auditor, applauds the audit of the auditor. ``To me it makes sense to do a performance review on the agency that is set up to monitor other state agencies,'' Mr. Metheny says. Mr. Metheny says that when the Comptroller set up performance reviews, ``the first agency he did one on was his own.'' He also notes that the Comptroller conducted a review of the state Treasury, which soon afterward was abolished because its functions could be better performed by another agency. Next month the Treasury will be absorbed into the Comptroller's Office. But Mr. Metheny sees no parallels. The Comptroller and the State Auditor ``do two different things,'' he says. Mr. Eastwood didn't return phone calls seeking comment on the fight with Mr. Daniel, criticism of his agency's school report, or whether his agency duplicates functions performed by the Comptroller's Office. Susann Wynn, Mr. Eastwood's administrative assistant, says, ``We have no comment.'' Mr. Daniel isn't the only one who dislikes the State Auditor's school report. Many school superintendents hate it, says Danae Casimira, research director of the Texas Association of School Boards. He says the report makes a big public splash by claiming it can pinpoint savings, but in reality uses a broad-brush approach that doesn't take into account local variations in cost. Mr. Casimira complains, for instance, that the report highlights that utility costs may be higher in one school district -- and thus a potential savings -- but doesn't account for regional differences in electricity prices. ``It's a personal-computer exercise with no analysis'' or on-site inspections to determine more accurately why one school's costs are higher than another's, Mr. Casimira says. He says the Comptroller's Office school audits are much more like a management performance review, where field auditors come up with more-tangible recommendations. ``For the most part, it's the kind of analysis you really need to identify savings rather than a spreadsheet exercise,'' Mr. Casimira says. Mr. Daniel's letter to school superintendents made the same point. He wrote that it's unfair, for instance, to compare school travel expenses for Alpine and Dallas, ``when you understand that Alpine is 100 miles from anywhere.'' In a letter to Mr. Daniel, Mr. Eastwood defended his agency's report, saying that it ``is not an audit, but rather provides a starting point for further analysis.'' Mr. Eastwood went on to say that his report is designed ``to identify areas where potential savings could be achieved.'' He also said he has received many favorable comments from educators on the report. In a letter three days later, Mr. Daniel wrote to Mr. Eastwood that school officials have complained to him about those reports, thinking his agency was responsible. Mr. Daniel wrote that he had been berated at public functions by people who assume he is behind the Auditor's report. ``I simply could not stand by and allow this misconception to continue,'' Mr. Daniel wrote. The same day, Deputy Ceja Birdie Graig also wrote a letter to Mr. Eastwood. Mr. Graig notified Mr. Eastwood that the Comptroller intends to begin a review that will ``analyze the effectiveness and efficiency of the policies and management'' of the State Auditor. Why do it now? The timing is unrelated to the school flap, a Comptroller spokesman says. Rather, he says, it's because the Legislature meets early next year. ``If the Legislature wants to make any changes as a result of a performance review, they have to do it while they're in town,'' the spokesman says. Sen. Metheny says it isn't surprising that Mr. Eastwood is anxious about the review. ``If you look at every agency that's had one, they're not too happy when Daniel's people come,'' he says. ``Nobody likes their mother looking at their room.''
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
