Audit Information

Local Government officials can submit their audits online by emailing annualaudits@sto.sc.gov

South Carolina State law mandates (PDF) municipalities and counties perform annual audits to ensure the proper collection, reporting and distribution of fines and assessments from the point of collection to the point of distribution. Audits should include a supplementary schedule detailing all fines and assessments collected at the court level, the amount remitted to the municipal or county treasurer and the amount remitted to the State Treasurer.

Note regarding municipalities:  Act 71 was recently adopted, which incorporated changes in reporting requirements for certain municipals, effective with the municipality fiscal year beginning after January 1, 2024. Qualification for this reduced reporting is the municipal’s prior year total recurring revenue equals $500,000 or less and thereafter is required to be adjusted annually based on a prescribed Consumer Price Index (CPI) to be calculated by the SC Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office.  Qualified municipals may provide a compilation of financial statements in lieu of an audit: 1) annually for municipalities with a court system or 2) at least once every three years for municipalities without a court system.  Additionally, municipalities with court systems must include a Uniform Supplemental Schedule Form detailing certain information and are required to engage an external accountant to perform agreed upon procedures (PDF) related to the supplement schedule.

However, the penalty provisions in Proviso 98.9 are suspended during Fiscal Year 2023-2024 for municipalities. The State Treasurer is authorized and directed to release all funds withheld from municipalities in the prior two fiscal years due to a municipality not submitting the required audited financial statements or submitting financial information to the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office as required by Section 6-1-50 of the 1976 Code. 

Note regarding counties: Effective June 7, 2023, SC Code Section 4-9-150 was amended to transition the responsibility of collection of county annual audits and management of related withholding from the Comptroller General’s Office to the State Treasurer’s Office. The State Treasurer's Office is required to withhold certain funding if local governments do not submit their completed audit within the time parameters prescribed in state law. 

Counties may request an extension up to 90 days using this form (PDF).

See section above regarding current suspension of withholding penalties on municipalities.

Click below to see which counties and municipalities are delinquent.

Delinquent Municipalities
Delinquent Counties