Audit Uncovers $31 Billion in Errors on California's Books

An audit of California’s books by the Bureau of State Audits has uncovered errors totaling $31 billion.

CBS 13 reported the results of the audit Thursday. It found:

•  $7.7 billion – Understated federal trust fund revenues and expenditures
• $653 million – Overstated general fund assets and revenues
• $8 billion – Overstated California State University’s bond debt
• $9.1 billion – Reporting error that understated a public building construction fund

In addition, there was one case in which a figure was reported as $6.2 billion, when it was actually $6.2 million. After reviewing the errors uncovered by the audit, John Corless, a Sacramento State accounting professor, told CBS 13, “Someone’s not using their equipment right, and they’re not using their heads.”

Controller John Chiang, who is running for state treasurer this year, refused to speak on camera for the story. His office did acknowledge the errors in a statement which read: “All issues were corrected and identified before the final report was published, and not one cent of taxpayer dollars was affected.”