<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/3/1679678288234.jpeg" alt="South Carolina Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom holds up a book he wanted to present to his new Chief of Staff James Holly during his introduction at a Budget and Control Board meeting in 2009, (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)" />
 <figcaption>South Carolina Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom holds up a book he wanted to present to his new Chief of Staff James Holly during his introduction at a Budget and Control Board meeting in 2009, (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)</figcaption>
 </figure>By JAMES POLLARD Associated Press/Report for AmericaCOLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina's embattled top accountant will 
step down next month after a $3.5 billion error in the year-end 
financial report he oversaw, according to a resignation letter written 
Thursday that was obtained by The Associated Press.Republican 
Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom's decision to leave the post he has
 held for 20 years came after intense scrutiny of his performance 
following the blunder and amid rising calls for him <a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-carolina-accounting-error-comptroller-d86a4db4b85b1d64e4c482bf2e7e2283">to either quit or be removed.</a>The
 Senate panel investigating the financial misstatement issued a damning 
report last week accusing Eckstrom of "willful neglect of duty.” As 
recently as last week, however, Eckstrom had said he would not resign.“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 the letter to South Carolina
 Gov. Henry McMaster. “They deserve nothing less.”The governor accepted the resignation, effective April 30.The
 Senate report concluded that Eckstrom was solely responsibile for the 
mapping error, which happened during the state's transition to a new 
internal information system from 2011 to 2017. State officials testified
 that Eckstrom ignored auditors' yearslong warnings of a “material 
weakness” in his office and flawed cash reporting.Eckstrom has 
said the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report exaggerated the state's 
cash balances for a decade by double counting the money sent to colleges
 and universities. The mistake went unsolved until a junior staffer 
fixed the error this fall.Officials have said the overstatement did not affect the state budget. But lawmakers <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-south-carolina-state-government-e26ddb69b68e54067a9e30fd87ebd430">alarmed by Eckstrom's inconsistent testimony</a> slammed his failure to fulfill one of his primary constitutional duties: to publish an accurate account of state finances.The fallout for the state agency that typically flies under the radar is expected to continue. A Senate subcommittee recently <a href="https://apnews.com/article/35-billion-comptroller-south-carolina-4e3cb862eeb304df10d507ffcccd1b52">approved a joint resolution</a>
 that would let voters decide whether the comptroller general should 
continue as an elected position or be appointed by the governor. 
Eckstrom reiterated his support for that change Thursday in his 
resignation letter.The next comptroller general may also lead a 
much weaker office. The investigating panel suggested its 
responsibilities be transferred to one or more agencies. State Treasurer
 Curtis Loftis, an elected Republican, has testified that his office 
could absorb the main tasks.Republican Sen. Larry Grooms, who led
 the investigation, said the comptroller general’s office could also be 
“done away with altogether.”Grooms thanked Eckstrom for doing the
 “honorable thing” and sparing the General Assembly from using an 
obscure state constitutional provision to remove him from office.Between
 a 104-7 House vote to cut the comptroller general’s annual salary to $1
 and the Senate’s scheduled April 11 vote to oust Eckstrom, Grooms 
suggested the rising heat had grown too intense for him to remain on the
 job.The Senate must now select a replacement to serve out the 
rest of Eckstrom’s term, which ends in 2027. Grooms said the next 
comptroller general should be someone who recognizes that their job is 
to spend the next three years overseeing the office’s incorporation into
 other state agencies. He does not anticipate any other heads will roll.“The buck stopped with him,” Grooms said. “The accountability was with him.”A
 certified public accountant, Eckstrom, 74, spent four years as state 
treasurer before assuming his current office. He has run unopposed in 
the past two elections and last faced a Republican primary challenger in
 2010.McMaster — who had resisted calls for impeachment and 
endorsed elections as the proper vehicle for accountability — thanked 
Eckstrom for his 24 years of “dedicated service.” The governor 
previously served as the state's attorney general alongside Eckstrom 
early in the comptroller general's tenure.“The Eckstrom and 
McMaster families have been dear friends for decades,” McMaster said 
Thursday in a letter accepting the resignation. “I know that your every 
wish has been, and always will be, prosperity and happiness for the 
people of South Carolina.”James Pollard is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. <a href="https://www.reportforamerica.org/">Report for America</a> is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

South Carolina's top accountant to resign after $3.5B error