
The auditor was to "superintend the fiscal affairs of the State examine and settle accounts of persons indebted to the State liquidate claims by persons against the State and to draw warrants on the State Treasurer for moneys to be paid out of the treasury." The document also moved the office out of the legislative branch of government and into the executive branch, stipulating that its holder was to be popularly elected every four years.

The North Carolina Constitution of 1868 created the Office of State Auditor, superseding the auditor of public accounts and abolishing the post of comptroller. In 1862 the General Assembly altered the previous system by establishing the Office of Auditor of Public Accounts, who was to be elected every two years by the legislature. The assembly also established ten boards of auditors for different areas of the state. In 1782 the General Assembly appointed Richard Caswell as the Comptroller of the State of North Carolina, responsible for the maintenance of public accounts. Over the following decades, boards of auditors were appointed by the North Carolina General Assembly and the King of England's comptrollers to attend to matters in various localities as stipulated by the English crown. The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, adopted on March 1, 1669, for the Province of Carolina, provided for twelve auditors to maintain various accounts, but there is no evidence that the offices were ever brought into use.

The State Auditor of North Carolina is a statewide elected office in the U.S.
