West Virginia State Auditor

State Auditor of West Virginia
Incumbent JB McCuskey since January 16, 2017
Style	Mister or Madam Auditor (informal) The Honorable (formal)
Seat	West Virginia State Capitol Charleston, West Virginia
Appointer	General election
Term length	Four years, unlimited
Constituting instrument	Constitution of West Virginia: Article VI, Section 1; Article VII, Sections 1, 2, and 17; Article X, Section 3; Article XI, Section 7; and Article XII, Section 4
Formation	June 20, 1863 (June 20, 1863)
Salary	$95,000
Website	Official website

The state auditor of West Virginia is an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the U.S. state of West Virginia. The incumbent is JB McCuskey, a Republican.

Powers and duties

Article X, Section 3 of the Constitution of West Virginia provides that "[n]o money shall be drawn from the treasury but in pursuance of an appropriation made by law, and on a warrant issued thereon by the auditor..." This constitutional mandate effectively designates the state auditor as the general accountant or "controller" of state government in West Virginia. This function entails operating the state accounting system, preauditing claims against the state, ordering disbursements, administering payroll, enforcing internal control, and providing budget analysis services to state agencies. In addition, the state legislature has conferred a number of other duties on the state auditor that concern matters of finance. Foremost among them, the state auditor regulates securities, administers and sells tax-delinquent property, investigates instances of waste, fraud, and abuse in state agencies and local governments, and supervises and audits the finances of West Virginia's approximately 700 political subdivisions, be they counties, cities, towns, or school districts. Taken altogether, the state auditor's remit is unlike that of counterparts anywhere else in the United States.