About Comptroller Operations
The Office of Comptroller Operations prepares and issues the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s annual comprehensive financial report, or ACFR, and the state-level single audit. The office oversees the commonwealth’s uniform accounting, payroll and financial reporting systems. Additionally, Comptroller Operations provides auditing, financial management, accounts payable and receivable services; enterprise-wide travel management and support; quality assurance and process improvement consulting; and other specialized services including enterprise vendor registration and support.
In 2009, the Office of Comptroller Operations undertook a bold reorganization to a shared services model that consolidated nine offices and bureaus and streamlined the commonwealth’s finance business processes that resulted in an annual savings of $10 million compared to 2008 costs. This reorganization earned the office the GFOA’s 2011 E-Government and Technology Award for Excellence in Government Finance. Additionally, in 2022 the Office of Comptroller Operations earned the GFOA Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting for the 36th consecutive year.
John Kaschak
Chief Accounting Officer
As the Commonwealth's Chief Accounting Officer, it is John Kaschak's role to ensure that the Office of Comptroller Operations is a trusted advisor to the agencies that we serve by offering fiscal insight, oversight, and foresight related to financial systems, processes, and policies.
While at the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, John served as the Chief Operations Officer and oversaw the processing of ten million tax returns and the collection and accounting of over $40B in revenues annually. He was one of the architects behind their three-pronged transformation plan, which included modernization, reorganization, and employee empowerment.
During his previous term in the Office of Comptroller Operations, John served as the Director of the Bureau of Audits. In this role, he coordinated the merger of five Comptroller Office audit divisions into one Bureau of Audits, while also establishing the Commonwealth's first internal controls policy and the first Commonwealth-wide audit committee.
Before John's two decades of public service, he spent over four years in the public accounting profession, conducting financial statement and single audits of a variety of state and local government entities in both the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of Maryland.
John holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration-Accounting from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), and Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM).
John served on the U.S. Comptroller General, Government Accountability Office, Green Book Advisory Committee and two terms as a member of the American Institute of Public Accountants' (AICPA) Government Performance and Accountability Committee (GPAC) and the related CGMA Advisory Group. He also served two terms as a member of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants' (PICPA) Council, as well as their Local Government Committee, and is a past president of the Northeastern States Tax Officials Association.