Mississippi State Auditor

Mississippi State Auditor
General information
Office Type:	Partisan
Office website:	Official Link
Term limits:	None
Structure
Length of term:	4 years
Authority:	Mississippi Constitution, Article V, Section 134
Selection Method:	Elected
Current Officeholder
Name:	Stacey Pickering
Officeholder Party:	Republican
Assumed office:	January 2008
Compensation:	$85,000
Elections
Next election:	November 2015
Last election:	November 8, 2011
Other Mississippi Executive Offices
Governor • Lieutenant Governor • Secretary of State • Attorney General • Treasurer • Auditor • Superintendent of Education • Agriculture Commissioner • Insurance Commissioner • Executive Director of Environmental Quality • Executive Director of Employment Security • Public Service Commission

The Mississippi State Auditor is a state executive position in the Mississippi state government. It has been an elected position since 1817. Prior to that there were territorial auditors.

The auditor's main role is to assess state and local governmental and other entities to ensure that public funds are properly used.

Current officeholder

The current officeholder is Stacey Pickering. He was first elected in 2007 and re-elected in 2011.

Authority

The Auditor's powers and duties are established by Article V, Section 134 of the Mississippi Constitution.

Article V, Section 134:

A State Treasurer and an Auditor of Public Accounts shall be elected as herein provided, who shall hold their office for the term of four (4) years, and shall possess the same qualifications as required for the Secretary of State. They shall receive such compensation as may be provided by law.

Qualifications

Article 5, Section 133 of the Mississippi Constitution outline the qualifications for Secretary of State, which also apply for Auditor:

... He shall be at least twenty-five years of age, a citizen of the state five years next preceding the day of his election, and he shall continue in office during the term of four years...

• at least 25 years old
• a resident of Mississippi for at least the 5 years before the day of their election

Elections

Mississippi elects auditors to four-year terms during gubernatorial election years. For Mississippi, 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015 are all auditor election years.

Duties

The state auditor is the head of the Department of Audit, which employs some 150 people. The mission statement of the office is as follows:

The mission of the Office of the State Auditor is to serve its customers and protect the public's trust by independently assessing state and local governmental and other entities to ensure that public funds are properly received, are legally, effectively, and efficiently spent and are accounted for and reported accurately.

Divisions

The Department of Audit has 12 main divisions:

• Executive Division

Stacey E. Pickering, State Auditor

Phone: 601-576-2641

Email: auditor@osa.ms.gov

• Administrative Services Division

Mary McNeill, Director

Phone: 601-576-2648

Email: mary.mcneill@osa.ms.gov

• Information Technology Division

Jim Moore, Director

Phone: 601-576-2694

Email: Jim.Moore@osa.ms.gov

• Financial and Compliance Audit Division

Bill Doss, Director

Phone: 601-576-2672

Email: Bill.Doss@osa.ms.gov

• State Agency Audit Section

Rob Robertson, Director

Phone: 601-576-2673

Email: Rob.Robertson@osa.ms.gov

• County Audit Section

Scott Speights, Director

Phone: 601-576-2674

Email: Scott.Speights@osa.ms.gov

• Education Audit Section

Tommy Vickers, Director

Phone: 601-576-2666

Email: Tommy.Vickers@osa.ms.gov

• EDP Audit Section

Mike Ferguson

Phone: 601-576-2677

Email: Mike.Ferguson@osa.ms.gov

• Investigative Division

David Huggins, Director

Phone: 601-576-2724

Email: David.Huggins@osa.ms.gov

• Performance Audit Division

Sam Atkinson, Director

Phone: 601-576-2655

Email: Sam.Atkinson@osa.ms.gov

• Property Audit Division

Ross Campbell, Director

Phone: 601-576-2712

Email: Ross.Campbell@osa.ms.gov

• Technical Assistance Division

Eddie Smith, Director

Phone: 601-576-2734

Email: Eddie.Smith@osa.ms.gov

Compensation

See also: Compensation of state executive officers

In 2012, the Mississippi Auditor was paid an estimated $85,500. This figure comes from the Council of State Governments.

Former officeholders

Since 1817, Mississippi has had 41 state auditors.

Click "show" for former officeholders.

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
1	John R. Girault	1817	1821
2	John Richards	1821	1822
3	Hiram G. Runnels	1822	1830	Democrat
4	Thomas B.J. Hadley	1830	1833
5	John H. Mallory	1833	1837
6	A.B. Saunders	1837	1842
7	J.E. Matthews	1842	1847
8	George T. Swann	1847	1851
9	Daniel R. Russell	1851	1855
10	Madison McAfee	1855	1859
11	E.R. Burt	1859	1861
12	A.B. Dilworth	1861	1862
13	A.J. Gillespie	1862	1865
14	Thomas T. Swann	1865	1869
15	Henry Musgrove	1869	1874
16	William H. Gibbs	1874	1876
17	Sylvester Gwin	1878	1886
18	W.W. Stone	1886	1896
19	W.D. Holder	1896	1900
20	William Qualls Cole	1900	1904
21	T.M. Henry	1904	1908
22	Elias Jefferson Smith	1908	1912
23	Duncan Lafayette Thompson	1912	1916
24	Robert A. Wilson	1916	1920
25	W.J. Miller	1920	1924
26	George Dumah Riley	1924	1928
27	C.C. White	1928	1932
28	Joe S. Price	1932	1936
29	Carl N. Craig	1936	1940
30	J.M. Causey	1940	1944
31	Bert J. Barnett	1944	1948
32	Carl N. Craig	1948	1952
33	William Donelson Neal	1952	1956
34	E. Boyd Golding	1956	1960
35	William Donelson Neal	1960	1964
36	William Hampton "Hamp" King	1964	1984
37	Ray Mabus	1984	1988	Democrat
38	Pete Johnson	1988	1992
39	Steven A. Patterson	1992	1996
40	Phil Bryant	1996	2008	Republican
41	Stacey Pickering	2008	Present	Republican

Contact information

Mississippi Office of the State Auditor
501 N. West Street
Suite 801, Woolfolk Building
Jackson, MS 39201
Phone: (601) 576-2800
Fax: (601) 576-2687
Toll Free: (800) 321-1275

See also

• Auditor
• Stacey Pickering

External links

Suggest a link

• Mississippi Office of the State Auditor