First appointed state auditor by Governor Gray Davis in 2000, Elaine M. Howle has been reappointed twice more to a post that often finds itself in the middle of contentious inter-governmental struggles.
Howle received a bachelor's degree in sports management in 1979 from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where she lettered in softball, made the school record book and went to the AIAW World Series in 1978. (The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women disbanded a few years later.) She received a master's of business administration in 1982 from California State University, Sacramento.
She began her career in state government in 1983, joining the Office of the Auditor General as an entry-level auditor, and her first assignment was to conduct performance audits on a variety of state and local governments. Howle was made a supervising auditor in 1987 and a principal auditor in 1994. She was named deputy state auditor in 1999 before being appointed California's first female state auditor in 2000. Howle is a certified public accountant and a certified government financial manager.
For the National State Auditors Assn., she serves on the performance audit committee, the single audit committee, the human resources committee and the auditor training committee. She belongs to the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers, and Treasurers, the Association of Government Accountants; and the National Legislative Program Evaluation Society. Howle also is a member of the Government Accountability Office, Domestic Accountability Working Group.
Howle's office is regularly involved in controversy. In early 2012, it issued a report that found widespread deficiencies in the Los Angeles County's handling of abused and neglected children; accused the California Workforce Development Board (which helps the unemployed) of wasting an opportunity to obtain $10.5 million from the federal government; warned that the state's high-speed rail project relied on risky financial assumptions; and outlined the financial woes besetting the billion-dollar Financial Information System for California (FI$CAL).
About Elaine Howle (Auditor’s website)
