Illinois’ financial transparency ranks among worst in the nation
The state ranked 46th in a recent report, getting only 51 out of 100 points.
Illinois ranks near the bottom of the country in a report on state government financial transparency.
The state was 46th in the 2026 Financial Transparency Score from nonprofit think tank Truth in Accounting. Illinois got 51 out of 100 possible points, with only Connecticut, Georgia, North Carolina and California scoring lower.
A combination of reporting practices that make it difficult for stakeholders to understand the state’s true financial condition drove Illinois’ low ranking.
Truth in Accounting, which focuses on government finance, evaluates states on several measures of transparency, including the quality of external audits, the clarity and completeness of liability and debt reporting and the timeliness of financial reports.
The most weight goes to audit quality, with states able to earn up to 50 points by receiving a clean external audit opinion. Illinois got 35 points, with auditors issuing a qualified opinion for fiscal 2023. That means they were able to verify most of the state’s financial statements but that the evidence was insufficient or inaccurate in some places.
Illinois got 0 out of 10 points for timeliness, meaning it didn’t file its 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report within 100 days after the end of its fiscal year. Illinois also did not make Truth in Accounting’s August 2025 deadline to use the 2024 report in its analysis, even though Illinois’ fiscal 2024 ended more than a year earlier. The organization used fiscal 2023 data for the state instead.
Illinois also got 0 out of 10 for “undistorted net position,” with the state losing points for liability overstatements on its balance sheets, and 3-of-10 for both “pension data timing” and independent auditor. The state did get a perfect 10 out of 10 for reporting all of its retirement liabilities on its balance sheet.
Illinois has a clear path to improving its ranking. Several of the factors that lowered the state’s scores are within its control.
While transparency alone will not solve Illinois’ fiscal challenges, complying with its existing laws would improve transparency and provide taxpayers, lawmakers and investors with reliable, more timely information about the state’s financial condition.