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The Truth
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Each Taxpayer's Share: 1,248,000
Financial State of the Union 2026
Truth in Accounting’s analysis of the most recent audited Financial Report of the U.S. Government found its overall financial condition worsened by $11.6 trillion in 2025.
Financial State of the Cities 2026
The report examines the fiscal health of America’s five largest cities–Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York City.
Financial State of the States 2025
Our sixteenth annual Financial State of the States (FSOS) report provides a comprehensive analysis of the fiscal health of all 50 states.
Data-Z (database for state and city data)
Create your own chart with more than 700 data variables at the federal, state, and city levels.
The Pension Time Bomb: Why the GASB’s Accounting Rules Demand Congressional Oversight
April 23, 2026
America’s state and local governments are sitting on a hidden fiscal crisis. Under today’s official accounting rules, hundreds of billions of dollars in underfunded pension promises are not reflected as liabilities in the budgetary fund statements used for budgeting decisions. The result? Distorted budgets, squeezed funding for schools, roads, and public safety, and a massive transfer of costs to future generations.
Regime Change at the Fed: From Big Bank Bailouts to Local Productivity
February 24, 2026
ScheerPost
On January 30, when former Federal Reserve board member Kevin Warsh was nominated by President Trump as the central bank’s next chair, markets sold off and gold and silver plunged. Investors were positioned for a “dove,” someone inclined to cut rates aggressively and keep money loose; and Warsh has a long-standing reputation as a “hawk.”
The Chicago Teachers’ Mystery Audits
February 1, 2026
The Wall Street Journal
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has resisted making its financial audits public, and we are starting to learn why. The union recently produced audits going back to 2020, and the records show that its finances haven’t always received a clean slate by its official independent auditor.
Letter to Maryland's Comptroller Brooke Lierman
September 18, 2026
Thank you for your service to Maryland. I’m a CPA who started the nonpartisan organization Truth in Accounting (TIA) over 20 years ago with the sole mission to reveal governments’ true financial condition. TIA has analyzed Maryland’s audited Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports since 2009 and was recently engaged by local media outlets to review the state's audited financial statements. And because the Office of the Comptroller is a signatory to the accuracy and completeness of the data presented in those reports, we have questions we believe Maryland taxpayers deserve answered. Please respond by Tuesday, August 25 at noon.
Baltimore Audit Finds a Bigger Problem Than Any Single Finding: Weak Controls Across the City
September 8, 2026
Baltimore’s 2025 Single Audit points to a broader problem than any one accounting error or compliance issue. Across the city’s finances, auditors repeatedly found the same underlying weaknesses: late reviews of account balances, fragmented responsibilities across departments, weak monitoring, and internal controls that failed to catch problems before year-end. Those breakdowns affected everything from cash and grant reporting to utility billing and cybersecurity.
PRESS RELEASE: Truth in Accounting Joins FOX45, WJLA, and The Baltimore Sun to Show Marylanders the Full Cost of Government
September 4, 2026
Truth in Accounting, a nonpartisan nonprofit that has analyzed government financial reports since 2002, today announced a joint effort with The Baltimore Sun and Sinclair Broadcast Group stations FOX45 in Baltimore and WJLA in Washington, D.C., including the Spotlight on Maryland investigative unit. The collaboration will examine Maryland’s finances from the State House to every county and Baltimore City over time, using governments’ own audited numbers, not campaign talking points.
Georgia Audit Finds Major Reporting Errors, Weak Cash Controls, and Ongoing Problems in Unemployment Accounting
August 28, 2026
Georgia’s 2025 statewide audit identified recurring weaknesses in financial reporting, accounting systems, cash reconciliations, information technology (IT) controls, and oversight across multiple agencies. While many errors were corrected before the state’s financial statements were finalized, auditors found repeated instances where the agencies’ internal controls failed to catch significant mistakes until the audit began.
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