COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)-- South Carolina has actually gathered about $1.8 billion in a checking account over the previous years and state and private accountants are still attempting to find out where the money originated from and where it was expected to go.

" It's like entering into your bank and the bank president informs you we have a lot of money in our vault but we simply don't understand who it belongs to," said Republican Sen. Larry Grooms, who is leading a Senate panel examining the issue.

It's the current trouble with the state's books and the two companies, normally led by chosen officials, that supervise of ensuring federal government accounts remain well balanced.

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Last year, the elected Republican comptroller general-- the state's top accounting professional-- resigned after his agency started double posting money in higher education accounts, resulting in a $3.5 billion mistake that was all on paper. The problem started as the state shifted computer system systems in the 2010s.

The current problem appears to include actual money and chosen Republican Treasurer Curtis Loftis, whose job is to write look for the state.

Investigative accountants are still attempting to untangle the mess, however it appears that each time the state's books were out of whack, money was moved from someplace into an account that assisted stabilize it out, state Senate leaders have said.

" Politics truly should not come into play. Individuals choose their accountants not be crusaders," Grooms said Tuesday, simply after the Senate authorized putting a constitutional amendment before voters to make the comptroller basic an appointed position. The proposition now goes to your home.

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Grooms suggested that an amendment to make the treasurer also selected may be next unless he can offer some satisfying answers.

Whatever caused the bank account errors has not been remedied, and if there are records revealing where the $1.8 billion came from, they have actually not been shared with state leaders.

"It does not influence confidence. However the bright side is no cash was lost," Republican Gov. Henry McMaster stated.

Loftis has actually stated he invested the money in the mystery account and made nearly $200 million in interest for the state, which caused concerns about why he didn't let the General Assembly know cash they either set aside for state agencies or that might have been in a trust fund was simply relaxing.

Loftis said that wasn't the job of his workplace.

The comptroller basic "is trying to shift obligation to clean up its mess to the Treasurer," Loftis wrote in a March 14 letter to Grooms that also said a timeline to address questions in just a few weeks was difficult.

Loftis said his personnel invested countless hours looking into the account, which the Comptroller General's Office has declined to meet with them or share details.

An audit of how the Treasurer's Office and the Comptroller General's Office interact discovered they don't do it well.

The treasurer hasn't answered comprehensive questions from lawmakers but has actually published statements on social media where he stated he was being assaulted politically and was having blame shifted on him by Comptroller General Brian Gaines, a well-respected career government employee who took over the workplace after Richard Eckstrom resigned throughout his 6th term.

Gaines and Loftis have been called previously Grooms' committee next week. Grooms said Gaines has actually answered every question his subcommittee has asked and that he has confidence in his work.

Grooms said he thinks Loftis' workplace need to have discovered the error, however it was reported by the Comptroller General's Office.

South Carolina has had a long history of accounting issues.

When the state's first constitution was written in 1776, the Treasure's Office was created. At that time, the General Assembly picked the treasurer. However by the early 1800s, the state's finances remained in "a state of overwelming confusion" and no one could "inform the quantities of financial obligations or of the credit of the State," according to History of South Carolina, a book modified in 1920 by Yates Snowden and Howard Cutler.

The very first comptroller basic identified the state was due about $750,000, which would be worth about $20 million today thinking about inflation.

On the other hand, plenty of others and legislators understand there is $1.8 billion sitting around possibly unspent and not appropriated at a time when $3 billion in demands from state agencies went unfinished in next year's budget plan just passed by the South Carolina House.

Legislative leaders and the guv wish to wait for some conclusive report before tapping into the account.

"That's a lot of cash and there is no requirement to hurry and attempt to invest it," McMaster said.