Lake County Gazette

Illinois tied for 41st best among all 50 states after receiving a transparency score of 72 on a recent review of state governments’ annual financial reports, according to the Truth in Accounting (TIA) policy institute.

TIA ranks states on a clean (passing) independent auditor opinion (50 points), no confusing deferred items (10 points), inclusion of retirement liabilities (10 points), timely publication within 100 days of a fiscal year’s end (10 points), online accessibility (five points), navigable links (five points), use of external auditor (five points) and pension data timing (five points). 

States can earn a maximum score of 100 points on the TIA ranking, which this year used information from fiscal-year 2018, the latest year data was available. 

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States’ Financial Transparency Scores, From Best to Worst

Rank	State	Auditor Opinion	Deferred Items	Off-Balance Sheet Liabilities	Timeliness	Accessibility	Navigation	External Auditors	Pension Data Timing	Total Transparency Score
1	Idaho	50	9	10	8	3	4	2	2	88
1	North Dakota	50	9	10	8	2	5	2	2	88
1	Nevada	50	8	10	6	3	4	5	2	88
4	Utah	50	7	10	8	4	5	2	1	87
4	Virginia	50	9	10	8	4	4	0	2	87
4	West Virginia	50	5	10	8	4	3	5	2	87
4	Wyoming	50	9	8	8	3	3	5	1	87
8	Indiana	50	9	10	8	3	2	2	2	86
8	Maine	50	7	10	8	3	4	2	2	86
8	South Carolina	50	8	6	10	4	1	5	2	86
8	Tennessee	50	9	10	8	3	4	0	2	86
8	Oregon	50	9	10	8	2	3	2	2	86
8	Washington	50	9	8	8	3	4	2	2	86
14	Georgia	50	7	10	6	3	5	2	2	85
14	Maryland	50	3	10	8	2	2	5	5	85
14	Pennsylvania	50	7	7	8	3	5	5	0	85
14	South Dakota	50	8	10	6	4	3	2	2	85
18	Massachusetts	50	4	10	6	3	4	5	2	84
18	Arizona	50	8	10	4	4	4	2	2	84
18	Hawaii	50	5	10	8	3	1	5	2	84
21	Delaware	50	4	10	8	3	1	5	2	83
21	New York	50	9	5	8	2	2	5	2	83
23	Iowa	50	8	10	8	2	2	0	2	82
23	Kansas	50	9	4	8	3	1	5	2	82
23	Mississippi	50	8	10	2	4	4	2	2	82
23	New Hampshire	50	4	10	6	4	1	5	2	82
23	Oklahoma	50	8	5	8	2	5	2	2	82
23	Rhode Island	50	7	10	6	3	4	0	2	82
29	Alabama	50	7	7	6	2	5	2	2	81
29	Colorado	50	5	10	8	2	3	2	1	81
31	Louisiana	50	7	10	6	2	1	2	2	80
31	Texas	50	4	9	6	4	5	0	2	80
33	Minnesota	50	0	10	8	4	5	0	2	79
33	Montana	50	8	9	8	1	1	0	2	79
35	Florida	50	8	10	4	1	3	0	2	78
35	Wisconsin	50	5	6	8	4	4	0	1	78
37	Kentucky	50	1	10	8	2	2	2	2	77
37	Arkansas	50	7	10	6	1	1	0	2	77
39	Ohio	50	6	8	8	1	1	2	0	76
40	Michigan	50	8	4	6	3	2	0	2	75
41	California	50	3	10	0	2	3	2	2	72
41	Illinois	50	0	10	0	4	4	2	2	72
43	New Jersey	50	0	10	0	3	4	2	2	71
44	Missouri	35	7	10	6	4	4	2	2	70
45	Alaska	35	9	10	4	3	4	2	2	69
46	New Mexico	35	7	10	2	1	1	5	2	63
47	Nebraska	35	5	10	6	2	1	0	2	61
48	Vermont	25	5	10	8	4	1	3	2	58
49	North Carolina	25	3	10	8	4	4	0	2	56
50	Connecticut	25	1	10	6	3	3	0	2	50

Source: Truth in Accounting