SC comptroller who brandished ‘Accounting for Dummies’ resigns after $3.5B error

The top state accountant for South Carolina submitted his resignation Thursday after he was found responsible for a $3.5 billion error and was facing a potential removal from office.

Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom — who notably brandished an “Accounting for Dummies” book at a new hire’s introduction meeting in 2009 — will step down next month after a Senate panel investigating the error accused him of “willful neglect of duty.”

Eckstrom, who held the role for the past 20 years, was found solely responsible for the multi-billion-dollar mistake in the year-end financial report he oversaw.

The error was not realized for several years until a junior staffer fixed it last fall.

“The buck stopped with him,” said Sen. Larry Grooms, who led the investigation panel. “The accountability was with him.”

The 74-year-old Republican comptroller said the financial report double counted the money sent to colleges and universities, which in turn overestimated South Carolina’s cash balances — for a whole decade.

The error didn’t affect the state budget, but lawmakers were disturbed by the top accountant’s negligence.

The State Senate was set to vote on a measure to oust Eckstrom from the elected position on April 11.

Facing mounting pressure, he submitted his letter of resignation to Gov. Henry McMaster, with April 30 as his last day.

“I have never taken service to the state I love or the jobs to which I have been elected lightly, endeavoring to work with my colleagues … to be a strong defender of the taxpayer and a good steward of their hard-earned tax dollars,” Eckstrom wrote in. “They deserve nothing less.”

The Senate will select a replacement for the disgraced comptroller general to serve out the rest of his term, which ends in 2027.

With Post wires