WisDOT fixes $900M accounting error found in audit of state financial report

An accounting error led the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) to erroneously increase the value on paper of the state’s infrastructure assets by nearly $900 million, legislative auditors said in a new analysis.

WisDOT corrected the error after the Legislative Audit Bureau drew it to the attention of the department, and the erroneous information was not included in the state’s 2024-25 fiscal year financial statements.

WisDOT had initially added $896 million to the value of the state’s capital infrastructure assets. It took that step after a previous audit report recommended a change in some of the department’s accounting procedures.

In the process, however, WisDOT overlooked other accounting principles and procedures, which if followed would not have led to the error, according to the audit bureau’s report on the Wisconsin’s 2024-25 financial statements.

WisDOT officials agreed with the new audit finding and said they would follow through on the audit bureau’s recommendations to update their procedures.

WisDot audit includes need for security

WisDOT was one of two state agencies that the Legislative Audit Bureau spotlighted in the financial statement audit report. The report was released Friday, Dec. 19, and highlighted Monday by the co-chairs of the Legislature’s Joint Audit Committee.

The audit report also said the state Department of Administration hasn’t adequately addressed security concerns relating to the state’s information technology systems that have been raised in previous audits.

“These audit findings have been found for numerous years, with no corrections taken by DOA,” stated a press release from the audit committee’s Republican co-chairs, Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Oconto) and Rep. Robert Wittke (R-Caledonia).

Corrections are underway, however, according to Kathy Blumenfeld, DOA secretary-designee.

In a letter responding to the audit, Blumenfeld wrote that while the audit bureau’s findings were “repeated from previous years,” the department “has in the last year implemented certain corrective actions consistent with the auditors’ recommendations.”

Those changes will require “sustained multiyear execution,” she wrote, given the nature of the audit findings. She also wrote that lawmakers have declined to increase DOA funding for cybersecurity, adding that more state funding “will be imperative to ensure the long-term security needs of the state.”

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