PERA Receives Clean Audit at 2025 Legislative Audit Committee Hearing

Colorado PERA received a clean audit at its annual hearing with the Legislative Audit Committee on August 11.

Results of annual audit

Every year, the State hires an independent auditor to examine PERA’s financial reports, compliance, and internal controls. Since 2015, the State has enlisted CliftonLarsonAllen, a nationally recognized financial services firm, to conduct that work.

As in years past, the audit did not find any issues with PERA’s recently released 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) and did not find any deficiencies or weaknesses in PERA’s internal controls.

Ensuring robust and accurate financial reporting and internal controls is a vital part of providing retirement security to Colorado’s public workforce. To that end, the ACFR is prepared to conform with generally accepted accounting principles, including requirements of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and Actuarial Standards of Practice. PERA’s internal audit team routinely reviews internal controls and operations, and the Chief Audit Executive regularly reports to the Board of Trustees’ Audit Committee, which includes independent experts.

RELATED: A Closer Look at PERA’s 2024 Annual Report

PERA plan study

In addition to the outside audit, the hearing included the Office of the State Auditor presenting the results of an independent study that compared the cost and benefits of the PERA Defined Benefit Plan to other plan designs.

That study found PERA continues to be a valuable tool for recruiting and retaining public employees by providing cost-effective retirement benefits.

READ MORE: Study Confirms PERA a Valuable Tool for Recruiting, Retaining Public Workers

Other interim activities

While PERA staff and consultants typically meet with various other legislative panels throughout the summer, those hearings are paused this year due to budget constraints. The suspension of interim activities applies to both the Pension Review Commission, which typically begins working on bills for the next legislative session, and the Pension Review Subcommittee.

PERA’s next hearing at the State Capitol will be with the Joint Budget Committee in the fall.