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Joint Legislative Audit Committee

State of Wisconsin FY 2024-25 Financial Statements

Report 25-33 | December 2025

SUMMARY

The Department of Administration (DOA) prepares the State of Wisconsin’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR), which contains the State’s financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) prescribed by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). The ACFR includes financial information on state funds, including the State’s General Fund, the Transportation Fund, the Unemployment Reserve Fund, the University of Wisconsin (UW) System, and the Wisconsin Retirement System.

We provided unmodified opinions on the financial statements and related notes of the State of Wisconsin as of and for the year ended June 30, 2025. We provide an unmodified opinion when audit evidence supports the conclusion that the financial statements provide a fair view of an entity’s financial activity in accordance with GAAP. Our unmodified opinions are included in the State’s ACFR, which may be found on DOA’s website. We conducted the financial audit by auditing the State’s financial statements in accordance with applicable government auditing standards, issuing our auditor’s opinions, reviewing internal controls, and issuing our auditor’s report on internal control and compliance.

We also reviewed certain aspects of the federal funding the State received for the public health emergency, and we include in our report certain other matters of interest related to the State’s fiscal year (FY) 2024-25 activities.

The fund balance of the General Fund is made up of several components, and the largest is the committed fund balance. The committed fund balance of $2.0 billion is made up of the balance held in the statutory Budget Stabilization Fund, which is also known as the State’s rainy day fund. The balance in this fund increased by $91.7 million in FY 2024-25, primarily from interest income. 

Total revenue increased by $292.8 million and was $38.7 billion in FY 2024-25. This increase was largely attributed to an increase of $934.5 million in tax revenues, which was partially offset by a decrease in federal revenues of $525.5 million. Total expenditures increased by $459.8 million and were $36.4 billion in FY 2024-25. This increase was largely the result of grants and aids to individuals and organizations under the Medical Assistance (MA) Program, increases in shared revenue payments to counties and other local governments, and increased tax relief. The unassigned fund balance, which are amounts that are not restricted or committed for a specific purpose, totaled $1.1 billion. The unassigned fund balance represents that, as of June 30, 2025, more resources were available than were spent or obligated in the short term.

The State repaid long-term debt in excess of new debt issuances during FY 2024-25, resulting in a decrease in overall debt. The $1.8 billion in new general obligation bonds and notes issued during FY 2024-25 included $666.9 million for UW System academic facilities and $403.0 million for transportation projects.

The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CSLFRF) program distributed money directly to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments. The State was allocated $3.0 billion in funding and was advanced $1.5 billion in May 2021, $1.3 billion in May 2022, and $205.8 million in June 2022. Federal regulations stipulate that eligible expenditures must be incurred between March 3, 2021, and December 31, 2024, and spent through December 31, 2026. DOA reported that $458.6 million in expenditures at 21 state entities was incurred and paid by the CSLFRF in FY 2024-25. The largest total expenditures were incurred by DOA, the Department of Children and Families (DCF), the Department of Workforce Development (DWD), and the Department of Health Services (DHS).

DHS is continuing to spend $404.1 million in additional federal funds received under the MA Program as allowed by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

We report significant deficiencies in DOA’s information technology (IT) security related to insufficient reviews of access and insufficient IT policy exceptions procedures. In addition, DOA continued to be in statutory noncompliance by providing insufficient oversight and monitoring of executive branch agency IT operations. Given that these concerns have continued for several years, we recommend DOA continue to report quarterly to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee in 2026 on the status of its efforts to provide oversight and monitoring of state agency IT operations.

We also report a significant deficiency in internal control over financial reporting related to DOA’s financial reporting for interest earnings on advanced CSLFRF funds, and a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting related to the Department of Transportation’s financial reporting for changes to infrastructure capital assets.

In addition, we report on certain other matters of interest, including:

Please see the complete list of recommendations on our website.

On July 7, 2025, UW System implemented a new enterprise resource planning system, which will affect financial reporting for FY 2025-26. Because UW System is part of the State’s financial reporting entity, it must meet timelines established by DOA related to the compilation and preparation of the State’s FY 2025-26 ACFR. UW System Administration will need to work more closely with DOA during the FY 2025-26 financial reporting process, including proactively communicating to ensure UW System Administration does not delay DOA’s financial reporting for the State.