LETTER: New report is important to understand state governance

To the editor:

The Office of the Comptroller General has recently published the state’s Consolidated Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for fiscal year 2016, available on the comptroller general’s website.

While this may seem to some a routine and innocuous matter, this actually represents a very considerable achievement. The report is absolutely necessary to the state’s borrowing and other activities, and to compliance with many legal and regulatory requirements. The comptroller general is tasked with timely production of the report to exacting professional standards, requiring effective cooperation with dozens of state entities.

The public tends not to hear much about all this, because Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, as a consummately professional and unselfish constitutional officer, is more concerned about fostering willing cooperation by the partner agencies, and getting the State’s work done, than in inflating his own office’s reputation with stentorian trumpeting.

I believe anyone reading Statehouse Report almost certainly has a sincere and informed interest in good governance for South Carolina, and a respectable level of knowledge of the workings of State government. All the same, many not have had the specific opportunity of being involved in the CAFR preparation process, or similar financial reporting activities, with a consequent, full appreciation of the effort involved.

I respectfully submit my belief that the citizens and supporters of South Carolina owe a debt of thanks to the comptroller general’s staff for a job well and truly done, in the face of many frustrating difficulties and obstacles.

— Dale M. (Dusty) Rhodes, C.P.A., Richmond, Va.