Awards are given according to the size of the audit shop. The Small Shop category comprises the audit shops with between 1 and 5 auditors. There were 18 submissions from small shops this year.

Natural Areas Program: Improved Transparency Recommended

The Office of the Metro Auditor's report focused on the Natural Areas Program, which is designed to acquire and protect designated areas for conservation, protect water quality and preserve land for future public use.  The audit focused on performance measures and accountability related to program goals.  The report was well-written, concise and understandable.  The audit purpose and benefits were well-defined.  It was evident how the recommendations would improve accountability and allow funds to be used in the most effective manner.  Metro's report was also unique in their understanding of how communicating program goals is important to program successes and public perception.  The persuasive writing style resulted in management's acceptance of the resulting audit recommendations.

Audit of Library Operations

The City of Palo Alto took an innovative approach to perform a comprehensive review of the City's Library Operations.  The report demonstrated a detailed and well-analyzed evaluation of the City Library Operations.  Findings and recommendations such as noting the inefficiency of having too many branches, poor condition of library facilities and proposed use of self-checkout of library materials should result in better use of resources and provide a positive impact on the community if actions are taken.  Using surveys of other library systems and calculating how that implementing the recommendations would improve efficiency were very persuasive.

Audit and Review of Operations of the Erie County Holding Center

Erie County's audit report on Operations of the Erie County Holding Center demonstrated a high level of analysis regarding overtime issues, inadequate record keeping and issues involving lost opportunities for reimbursements from government sources and medical insurance companies.  In particular, reporting and presenting findings and recommendations regarding inefficiencies in employee scheduling and its results of unnecessary overtime expenditures was instructive.  This first-timer submission demonstrated the potential impact in a report that was well-written and concise

Self-Insured Health Care Plan Review

The audit report, "Self Insured Health Care Plan Review," conducted by Johnson County was a well-written report that was to the point and had a major impact on the organization.  The findings and recommendations, in particular the $14 million over-funding of health care reserves, demonstrated the financial effects of over-funding reserve accounts.  The report also contained important recommendations regarding improvement of internal controls over health care expenditures.

Read the audit!

The Medium Shop category comprises the audit shops with between 6 and 15 auditors. There were 18 submissions from medium shops this year

Sexual Assault Response and Investigation: Portland efforts fall short of a victim-centered approach

The City of Portland's audit titled Sexual Assault and Investigation: Portland efforts fall short of a victim-centered approach is awarded the Gold Award. The judges were very impressed with the manner in which the auditors were able to write a report on a very difficult subject area in a thoughtful and sensitive manner.

The report was very well balanced giving equal weight to all sides of this complicated issue. The report also reached outside of government in its scope to include the hospitals that do examinations and collect evidence from victims.

The auditors found that the City of Portland is not fulfilling its goal of providing a victim-centered approach to sexual assault cases and that weaknesses in the system have contributed to a sexual assault clearance rate that is far below other comparable cities. Through the use of well-constructed flow charts, tables and graphs, the audit report convincingly backed up its findings and recommendations.

Seattle Indigent Public Defense Services

The City of Seattle is the Silver award winner with a well-written audit report dealing with a unique subject area. The awards committee found the audit innovative in its approach and persuasive in its recommendations. The audit noted improvements that were needed in 17 of the 19 areas that were analyzed, resulting in 36 recommendations. Due to the persuasiveness of the audit, the auditees agreed with and were implementing almost all of the recommendations.

Elections Audit

The bronze award goes to Multnomah County for its audit of the November 2006 general election. The awards committee found this a unique and timely audit of one of the most important aspects of government. The audit followed the process of an election from the registering of voters through the counting of the ballots. Much of the audit took place in real time as the election was progressing requiring an innovative approach that relied heavily on observation of events as they happened.

Environmental Services Review of Selected Areas within the Maricopa County Environmental Services Department

Maricopa County's Environmental Services Department audit was exceptional for its potential for significant impact to the County, including the health and safety of its residents.  The report was clear and well-written with strong use of graphics and offered the County valuable recommendations for improving operations.  The descriptions of scope, methodology and issues, and comprehensive techniques used to support their conclusions were convincing.  The audit report was very persuasive in its presentation of the cause and effect issues related to the County's ability to promote and protect the health of the community.  The audit identified over $500,000 in potential savings and numerous process improvements.  The opportunity for making the County more efficient and effective is evident both in the report and in the positive responses from management.

Audit of the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority

The Orange County, Florida, "Audit of the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority" resulted in significant reforms, substantial savings, and increased accountability. It was a well-written report that was positively received by management and the public. Of particular interest were its exploration of outsourcing and its development of simple criteria for determining when and whether to provide a service in-house or to contract.  Among its 81 recommendations was the creation of an internal audit function, improving controls over purchasing and contract review, improvements in contracting and payment practices, and creation of a centralized purchasing function with some previously contracted services brought in-house.

BRONZE – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Emergency Medical Services: Strained Resources Creating Major Impediments to Quick Response Time

Telephone Billings Audit

The Telephone Billings audit by the City of Phoenix was well-written, concise, and provided tangible benefit to the City in increased efficiency across all departments.  Innovative audit techniques were employed, including engagement of departments to assist in reviewing their own billings. This approach created ownership of the problems within the departments. The audit team also effectively used ACL to analyze long distance calls to ensure their propriety.

Department of Health's Oversight of the District of Columbia Medicaid Managed Care Program

The District of Columbia Office of the Inspector General's report, "Department of Health's Oversight of the District of Columbia's Medicaid Managed Care Program" identified significant potential savings.  Furthermore, the audit required the Inspector General's Office to evaluate complex issues involving rate-setting methodologies, actuarial data, and medical care data.