53 Days Until the Election - Audits & Transparency

In this election, we've heard a lot about transparency, access to information and the need to audit the government and it's businesses. 


The Truth? The Cherokee Nation and it's businesses are some of the most audited entities in the state of Oklahoma. For Cherokee Nation Businesses (CNB) alone, 6 independent and separate audits are done each year, and when you look at CNB and The Cherokee Nation Gaming Commission together, there’s probably 30 or 40 independent internal auditors that work on the various entities at any given time. And they've received clean reports and favorable audits.


But don't take my word for it. Watch for yourself. Sure, it's kind of boring, but it's the truth. 


The link below is to video from last week's (4/28/11) audit report of all of Cherokee Nation's businesses to the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council Executive Finance Committee by Don Williams, partner at the accounting firm BKD, the 10th largest accounting firm in the United States. BKD professionals performed the audits described above in addition to ongoing internal audits inside Cherokee Nation's businesses. 


Click here to watch Mr. Williams report, found approximately 00:36:50 into the committee meeting.

The following link is to a recent short article in the Tulsa World on April 17, 2011. Click here
Here is a clipping as well:

This report refers to the tribal government, and praises Cherokee Nation on its "careful and conservative governmental financial management" and for its "ability to manage cash flow issues." It goes on to tout Cherokee Nation's creation and expansion of non-gaming businesses like health care and information technology. 


If you want to know more about Cherokee Nation's budget, financials, travel expenses of elected officials or maybe want to know more about where the casino money goes, just click here. This information is currently available and has been available to the public for years.