The State Auditor is the head of the Office of the State Auditor. The State Auditor must be a certified public accountant or a college graduate with not less than 6 years of experience as a professional accountant or auditor, including not less than 5 years of auditing experience, of which not less than 4 years must have been in a supervisory capacity. The State Auditor must be elected by the Legislature by a joint ballot of the Senators and Representatives in convention and holds office for a term of 4 years or until a successor is elected and qualified. The State Auditor shall exercise such powers and perform such duties as are set forth in this chapter. In case the office of State Auditor becomes vacant during a period when the Legislature is not in session, the appointment of a person to fill such vacancy must be made immediately by the President of the Senate or if that office is vacant, by the Speaker of the House, and the person appointed holds that office until such time as the Legislature meets in regular or special session, and either confirm the appointment of the person or chooses another person to fill the office during the unexpired term. [PL 2013, c. 16, §1 (AMD).]

If a person elected to the office of State Auditor is not qualified as, or has not successfully completed or passed the examination for, a certified public accountant, certified information systems auditor or certified internal auditor at the time of election and fails to become so qualified within 9 months of being sworn into office, as required by section 242, that person may no longer serve as State Auditor and is ineligible for reelection by the same Legislature and the office of State Auditor is deemed vacant. [PL 2015, c. 44, §3 (AMD).]