Illinois Just Set a National Record Nobody Wants: 774 Days Late on State Audit
While you get penalized for filing taxes one day late, Illinois politicians spent TWO YEARS hiding the books — then approved a $55 billion budget anyway. What don't they want you to see?
When you run a household, you balance the checkbook. When you run a business, you file your reports. But when you run the State of Illinois? Evidently, you can go silent for two years — and remarkably, few seem to notice.
That’s exactly what happened with Illinois’ Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) — the official scorecard for managing tax dollars. By law, these audits are supposed to be timely. Yet, according to Truth in Accounting (August 2025), Illinois set a new national record: 774 days late for its fiscal year 2023 report, finally released in August 2025.
And things aren’t improving. As of October 2025, the state is also more than a year behind on its 2024 report, with no clear completion timeline (as reported by Illinois Policy Institute and The Bond Buyer).
Why This Matters: More Than Just Paperwork
An audit isn’t just administrative busywork. It’s the accountability mechanism that separates responsible governance from fiscal chaos. The ACFR contains audited financial statements prepared on an accrual basis — showing the true financial picture, including debts and liabilities that cash-basis budgets often overlook.
Without timely audits, taxpayers, lawmakers, and watchdogs lack a clear view of:
Where public money really went (not just claims from politicians)
What may be hidden in the numbers (debts, liabilities, irregularities)
Whether internal controls exist to prevent — or have already failed to stop — fraud
Late audits aren’t just an embarrassment. According to reporting by The Bond Buyer, they directly signal to credit rating agencies and bond investors that Illinois struggles with basic financial obligations. This drives up borrowing costs. Even a modest increase in interest rates on bonds — as little as a fraction of a percentage point — can mean hundreds of millions more in debt service for taxpayers over the life of the bonds, not billions as is sometimes claimed.
The Real-World Double Standard
If your accountant didn’t file taxes for two years, you’d face IRS penalties, possible audits, and maybe criminal charges. If a Fortune 500 company withheld audited financials for two years, the SEC would suspend trading, possibly prosecute executives, and shareholders would revolt.
In Illinois, though, Comptroller Susana Mendoza blames Auditor General Frank Mautino, who in turn cites complex accounting problems at state agencies. Politicians continue debating billion-dollar budgets without up-to-date financial facts — and the show goes on.
The FY2023 report, due by December 30, 2023 (180 days after June 30, 2023), wasn’t released until August 14, 2025 — more than two years late (Illinois Auditor General; Truth in Accounting).
How Illinois Compares: National Laggard
Illinois doesn’t just have typical problems; this is an extraordinary failure. According to fiscal watchdogs, more than forty states had filed their 2024 annual reports before Illinois published its 2023 report. Neighboring states put Illinois to shame:
Wisconsin released its FY2024 report on time, showing a positive fund balance and a fully funded pension system.
Iowa, Indiana, and Michigan all completed FY2024 reports months ahead of Illinois (as documented by Wirepoints and official state filings).
Nevada is among the few states still struggling with audit lateness, but Illinois set a new standard for delay as of August 2025.
The Government Finance Officers Association standard for timeliness is 180 days post year-end. Truth in Accounting recommends just 100 days. By comparison, major public companies must file 10-K statements within 60–90 days of year-end. State governments aren’t subject to SEC deadlines, but the contrast highlights Illinois’ outlier status.
The 774-Day Delay: What Went Wrong?
When the FY2023 audit finally emerged in August 2025, Auditor General Frank Mautino pointed to a $1.2 billion error at the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS). The misunderstanding of Medicare Part D drug rebates wasn’t discovered until October 2024 — 16 months after the fiscal year ended — then took nearly nine more months to fix (detailed in The Bond Buyer).
Mautino also explained that multiple agencies (not just HFS) created bottlenecks. Under the old audit method, a single agency’s issues could delay the entire process.
The prior year’s (2022) audit was similarly troubled: Mautino couldn’t issue a “clean opinion,” mainly due to fraud in the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund during COVID-19.
What Lawmakers Don’t Know — But Should
Here’s the real scandal, as reported by Illinois Policy Institute: Illinois lawmakers approved a $55.2 billion budget for fiscal year 2026 — a $2 billion increase year-over-year — without access to audited financial reports from the past two years.
Billion-dollar spending decisions are made without verified data on:
The real pension liability (estimated at $145.6 billion as of June 30, 2023, per Illinois Comptroller and Civic Federation)
Whether revenue projections are plausible given recent performance
Concealed debts or obligations in agencies’ books
Whether internal controls are working or have seriously failed
Authoritative guidance from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board is clear: reports must be issued promptly to be useful for decision-making. Illinois’ lateness has rendered its financial reports almost useless for guiding policy.
The Investor Impact: Millions in Hidden Costs
Illinois’ chronic delays haven’t gone unnoticed in the credit markets. The state saw modest credit rating upgrades in recent years (A3 by Moody’s, A- by S&P and Fitch as of 2025), thanks to increased pension payments and improved fiscal discipline. However, analysts warn that persistently late audits still undermine investor confidence, resulting in higher required yields on Illinois bonds — usually 50–100 basis points above the median state rate.
This means hundreds of millions in extra interest over time — not billions directly, but still a significant taxpayer burden. Timely audits are essential for credit risk analysis, and two-year delays lead investors to demand higher returns to offset uncertainty.
What’s Really Being Hidden?
Delays of this size rarely happen by accident. They usually indicate deeper problems:
Accounting breakdowns: Agencies unable to reconcile their books with state-level accounts, as the $1.2 billion HFS error demonstrates.
Fraud investigations: Unemployment insurance fraud during COVID-19 stopped auditors from verifying that fund’s financials. Are other areas similarly exposed?
Budget gimmicks: Illinois has a long history of labeling borrowed money and asset sales as “revenue.” Accrual-based audits force greater transparency, which may explain the reluctance to complete them quickly.
Pension pressures: Illinois’ pension systems hold a combined liability of $145.6 billion as of June 30, 2023; only 41% is funded — well below solvency standards.
Without completed audits, Illinois residents must trust their leaders’ assurances — which, under this state’s record for fiscal management and transparency, is not nearly enough.
The Systemic Failure
Illinois’ audit problems reflect deeper government issues: a culture where transparency is optional, accountability negotiable, and basic competence elusive.
Comptroller Mendoza has provided interim reports and pushed for a new statewide audit process, but also shifted blame to Mautino rather than championing a full solution. Mautino has cited legitimate staffing challenges — his office has just 74 employees to audit billions in annual spending across dozens of agencies. When agencies make billion-dollar errors or maintain sloppy practices, delays snowball.
But these are solvable issues. Mautino has announced a statewide audit approach for FY2025, which should prevent any single agency from holding up the entire process — a good move, but one that should have happened years ago.
The Pritzker administration has issued statements of commitment to transparency and fiscal discipline, but critics note the lack of a public emergency plan or leadership on the late audits.
The Bottom Line: A Scandal in Plain Sight
Illinois was 774 days late with its FY2023 audit, setting a new national record as of August 2025. The state is now more than a year late with its FY2024 audit, with no timeline in sight. This isn’t a technical glitch or pure resource issue — it’s a governance failure.
Only Nevada and Illinois are currently this far behind; California’s previous lateness record (631 days for FY2021) has now been eclipsed. Meanwhile, over forty other states, including Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan — some as large or more complex than Illinois — routinely file reports on time.
The excuse that Illinois is uniquely complex doesn’t hold water. California and New York, with far larger and more intricate finances, publish timely reports.
What Needs to Happen
Immediate Accountability: Consequences for officials responsible — whether agency heads with poor accounting, Auditor General Mautino for delays, or Governor Pritzker for tolerating persistent dysfunction.
Emergency Resources: Provide Mautino’s office with immediate staff and funding increases — the cost is minor compared to the hundreds of millions wasted from investor uncertainty.
Legal Deadlines with Teeth: Pass new state laws to require audit completion within 180 days, with automatic administrative or financial penalties for noncompliance.
Statewide Audit Now: Implement the new comprehensive process immediately.
Public Transparency: Regularly publish updates on audit status, agency bottlenecks, and causes.
The state demands timely tax payments and penalizes citizens for even a day’s delay. It’s time Illinois government met those same standards. Accountability starts with timely audits — and Illinois taxpayers should demand nothing less.
Sources
Truth in Accounting: “Illinois Sets a New National Record: 774 Days Late with Financial Reporting,” August 21, 2025.
Wirepoints: “Illinois extremely late on its 2023 financial report. Explanation needed,” January 27, 2025.
The Bond Buyer: “Illinois finally releases its 2023 audited financials; challenges remain,” August 14, 2025.
Illinois Policy Institute: “Illinois sets U.S. record: over 2 years late with state spending audit,” September 2, 2025.
Illinois Office of the Comptroller: “Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.” https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/financial-reports-data/find-a-report/comprehensive-reporting/annual-comprehensive-financial-report/
Civic Federation: “State of Illinois FY2024 Debt Burden and Credit Ratings.”
Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) standards for audit timeliness (180-day guideline)
Wisconsin Department of Administration: “Annual Comprehensive Financial Report FY 2024.”
Iowa Department of Administrative Services: “State Financial Reports.” December 30, 2024.