The Michigan auditor general is the main financial officer of the State of Michigan. The Office of the Auditor General was created in 1836. After changes to the Michigan Constitution in 1963, the office became an independent group that checks on the Legislature. The first Michigan auditor general was Robert Abbott. The first Republican to hold the position (1863) was Emil Anneke, who worked to end slavery, was a Forty-Eighter of German Origin, and was the younger brother of U.S. colonel and German 1849 revolutionary leader Fritz Anneke. In 1959, lawyer and NAACP activist Otis M. Smith was elected as the Michigan auditor general, becoming one of the first African Americans to serve in a senior state government office.

The current Michigan auditor general, Doug A. Ringler, C.P.A, C.I.A, was appointed by the Michigan Legislature on June 9, 2014.