The New Jersey State Comptroller: What the office does and why it matters

The Office of the State Comptroller is one of New Jersey’s most important watchdog agencies. Its powers come from a series of laws and mergers that consolidated three state oversight arms into one independent office.

Below is a breakdown of what the Office of the State Comptroller is, how it was formed, and what it actually does.

How we got here

2005 — Office of the Inspector General created

• Tasked with investigating fraud, waste, and abuse in public spending.
• Charged with promoting efficiency, identifying cost savings, and detecting misconduct across all levels of government.

2007 — Office of the Medicaid Inspector General created

• Established under the Medicaid Program Integrity and Protection Act.
• Mandated to prevent, detect, and investigate fraud, waste, and abuse in the Medicaid program.

2007 — Office of the State Comptroller created

• Designed as an independent agency to oversee, audit, and monitor state agencies, independent authorities, state colleges, local governments, and school districts.

2010 — The big consolidation

• The Legislature merged the Inspector General and the Medicaid Inspector General into the Office of the State Comptroller.
• The Inspector General and Medicaid Inspector General powers were transferred to the Office of the State Comptroller.
• The State Comptroller, appointed by the governor with Senate confirmation, serves a six-year term, reinforcing independence.

Why the Office of the State Comptroller exists

Mission:
To promote integrity and transparency across New Jersey government by:

• Auditing government finances
• Examining program efficiencies
• Investigating misconduct by officials and employees
• Reviewing the legality of government contracts
• Overseeing the integrity of the state’s Medicaid program

The divisions that do the work

1. Audit Division

Created in 2008.

What it does:

• Audits municipalities, counties, school districts, state colleges, agencies, and authorities.
• Evaluates whether public entities use tax dollars efficiently and maintain proper internal controls.
• Issues reports with findings and recommendations.
• Requires corrective action plans from agencies and performs follow-up reviews.
• Has driven cost savings and prompted reforms.

2. Investigations Division

Formed in 2010 when Inspector General functions were moved into the Office of the State Comptroller.

What it does:

• Detects and uncovers fraud, waste, and abuse.
• Investigates elected officials, public employees, and government programs.
• Reviews misconduct involving public funds.
• Publishes reports with findings and recommendations.

3. Medicaid Fraud Division

Powers transferred to the Office of the State Comptroller in 2010.

What it does:

• Acts as the state’s Medicaid watchdog.
• Audits and investigates providers, recipients, and managed care organizations.
• Ensures providers deliver the care they bill for.
• Pursues civil and administrative enforcement and disqualifies bad actors when necessary.
• Recovers tens of millions of dollars each year.

4. Public Contracting Oversight Division

Focus: Protecting taxpayer dollars in large public contracts.

How it works:

• Ensures contracts are competitively bid and compliant with the law.
• Staffed by attorneys specializing in public-contract law.
• Reviews procurements exceeding $3 million from more than 1,900 public entities.
• Must pre-approve contracts valued at $15.2 million or more before they are advertised.
• Reviewed COVID-19 recovery procurements over $150,000 and posted them publicly.

5. COVID-19 Compliance and Oversight Project

Created by Executive Order 166 in 2020.

Purpose:
Ensure accountability in the spending of federal COVID-19 relief funds.

Key responsibilities:

• Chaired the statewide COVID-19 Compliance and Oversight Taskforce.
• Oversaw COVID procurement reviews and Integrity Monitors.
• Provided training and technical assistance to state and local agencies.
• Performed monitoring, audits, and targeted reviews.

Officially launched in 2021 to formalize the Office of the State Comptroller’s expanded pandemic-oversight role.

6. Police Accountability Project

Goal: Add an independent check on state and local law enforcement.

What it does:

• Detects waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct in policing.
• Identifies systemic failures that expose the state to civil liability.
• Reviews how taxpayer dollars are spent on public safety.
• Highlights inefficiencies and gaps in police reform efforts.
• Publishes reports for public transparency.

The bottom line

The Office of the State Comptroller serves as a watchdog for auditing, contracting oversight, investigations, Medicaid integrity, and special projects.

Its mandate: protect taxpayer dollars and ensure government works fairly, legally, and transparently.