"Hello, this is the State Auditor's Office calling."
Sometimes when we phone a state agency, we can almost detect a missed heartbeat or a catch of breath. We don't mean to strike fear into those we audit. Because we have been audited ourselves and scrutinized in the glare of the media, we can understand that most folks aren't too pleased when we take an interest in their activities.
People have many different images of auditors. They may picture a numbers-cruncher with a green eyeshade, an IRS investigator looking for tax fraud, a compliance watchdog sniffing for legal violations, a federal grants official demanding that we dot all the i's and cross all the t's - requiring piles of paperwork in the process.
With these negative images of auditors and our reports hitting state agencies around the end of each year - it's no wonder that we're often viewed as the Grinch Who Stole Christmas!
But we don't see ourselves as grinches.
We view auditing - and try to practice it - as a constructive, rather than a destructive, process. We also have thick skins and deeply held beliefs about what we do and why we do it. We'd like to share these beliefs with you.
We believe our work makes a difference
Most fundamental is our belief that our work can help improve state government. We are committed to our mission. We believe that decision makers and the public need timely, objective, accurate information about what the State is doing and how it could do it better. We see our work as helping to hold government accountable in its stewardship of the public trust.
We believe in government
We do not see government as an evil. We see it as a needed process of democratically setting guidelines for behavior, structuring complex activities, and allocating resources to achieve public goals. In evaluating government operations, we are not detractors or even the "loyal opposition." We see our role as much more constructive. We try to recommend concrete solutions such as amending a law, organizing an agency, or introducing more effective and efficient procedures.
We believe in public service
We believe in government but not for its own sake. Government exists to achieve a public good. Together with other state employees, we serve the public interest. This belief informs all of our work and helps us to focus on the more significant issues relating to how government might better serve the public.
We believe we must call it as we see it
We believe that when the framers of the Hawaii Constitution directed us to audit the finances and performance of state agencies they meant just that. Created to be an independent agency of state government, we dig out and report on unpleasant truths that might otherwise not see the light of day. For example, the abuse of overtime in the State's correctional facilities, the child support enforcement agency that cannot account for its funds, the public housing project that has fallen into life-threatening disrepair, and so on. Our responsibility is to tell our customers - state government and the public - what we find.
We believe that auditing is both science and art
Some of our techniques are scientific, others are more personal and require the "art" of an experienced auditor with good judgement. Often, just identifying the important issues takes intuition and insight. A statistically sound survey of users of state boat harbors can tell us quickly and effectively where the customers are not being served. But walking out on piers and catwalks and talking to people about what's going on often gives us greater insight into the causes and the impact of problems. Actually seeing conditions makes a difference.
We believe that debate is healthy
Even before we issue our audit report, debate has often begun over its "rightness." Agencies often take issue with our findings and recommendations. The media then jump into the fray - who is "right," the Auditor or the agency?
We do not shrink from controversy. I
nstead, we believe that debate is healthy. Our findings are well substantiated but our recommendations represent our best judgement about the improvements that should be made. We know that not all of our recommendations will be accepted. Reasonable people can disagree, particularly when it comes to matters of judgement. We hope to be catalysts for change. Debate is useful since it becomes part of the process of improvement. We see emerging from this process a greater understanding of the demands facing agencies, how they respond to demands, and whether their actions are appropriate.
We believe our credibility is our greatest asset
For our work to have any impact, decision makers must trust it to be reliable and credible. Since accurate and objective information is often hard to come by, the credibility of our work is paramount. We take our work seriously. We conduct our work in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards as set forth by the U.S. General Accounting Office. This means that we must make sure that the staff assigned are qualified to do the tasks required, that the office and its staff are independent, that we use due professional care in conducting our audits, and that we have an appropriate internal quality control system in place.
Every three years auditors from other states conduct a peer review of our system of internal quality control to determine if we meet with government auditing standards. This process ensures that we obtain sufficient, competent, and relevant evidence for our judgements and conclusions.
These, then, are the beliefs that shape our work, and some of the reasons why we do what we do. We encourage our readers to share with us their ideas on how we can better carry out our mission.
Note: This essay is from the annual report of the State Auditor for Hawaii.
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