Indiana Scores 84 out of 100 for Financial Transparency

Truth in Accounting, a government finance watchdog organization, released their 2024 Financial Transparency Score report for the 50 states. While there is a great deal of focus on state budgets, the results of those budgets are found in a government’s annual comprehensive financial report (ACFR). Certified public accountants audit this document produced annually by governments. The criteria used to develop our transparency score provide a “best practices” framework for government officials and citizens that can be used to improve their government’s transparency and accountability.

The Financial Transparency Score Report measures the states on an easily understandable 0-100 scoring scale, with a perfect score of 100 signifying an ideal timely, truthful, and transparent performance. While no state earned a perfect score in this year’s analysis, a score of 80 or above is noteworthy.

To receive the top score of 100 points, a government’s annual report must meet the following criteria:

• 50 points: Receive a clean opinion from an independent auditor (This criterion also applies to the annual report of the state government’s largest pension plan.)
• 15 points: Include a net position not distorted by misleading and confusing deferred items
• 10 points: Report all retirement liabilities on its balance sheet (statement of net position)
• 10 points: Be published within 100 days of the government’s fiscal year-end
• 5 points: Be searchable with useful links from the table of contents and bookmarks
• 5 points: Be audited by an independent auditor who is not an employee of the government (This criterion also applies to the annual report of the state government’s largest pension plan.)
• 5 points: Measure the net pension liability using the same date as the annual report

Indiana scored 84 out of 100 for financial transparency. Indiana is one of 11 states that earned distinction this year for providing the public with candid and transparent information about their government’s fiscal health.

Overall the 50 states’ transparency scores worsened compared to the previous years. The greatest declines were hidden retirement debt and distortions of state net positions with states not including the full amount of unrealized pension investment gains and losses.