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Category: Front Page News Front Page News
Published: 09 March 2018 09 March 2018

Silver City, NM – State Auditor Wayne Johnson hit the road today in his efforts to stop corruption and waste in government spending. He kicked off a statewide tour to train local officials and CPAs who partner with Johnson’s office to conduct audits of government entities. This annual training teaches new regulations and processes to spot waste, fraud and abuses of public money, like the $12,000 in personal credit card charges recently found in Silver City municipal government.

“These trainings are an important step in our work to stop corruption and waste in their tracks,” says State Auditor Wayne Johnson. “Taxpayers expect their hard-earned dollars to be used wisely, and that’s why this is so important. Our job is to make sure government works the way it’s supposed to.”

The first training this year is in Silver City, and Johnson says his office will conduct additional trainings across the state in the coming weeks. The trainings are open to government finance employees and CPAs who aid in conducting independent audits of local, county, and state governments.

Silver City is a notable place to start this statewide tour because Johnson and city officials recently uncovered about $12,000 in potentially fraudulent use of a government credit card. The investigation is on-going, but Johnson worked with city officials and an independent accountant to conduct a forensic audit that uncovered the potential fraud.

“Silver City is a perfect example of why our work is so important. Twelve thousand dollars is a lot of taxpayer money to just disappear in someone’s pocket.” said Johnson. “This audit not only identified the potentially fraudulent activity, but we’ve provided Silver City with a roadmap to prevent fraud like this from happening again.”

Johnson’s office will conduct trainings in Silver City, Ruidoso, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Vegas, and Taos. For a complete list of trainings, check here: https://www.saonm.org/register_form