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City of West Palm Beach, Florida
Multnomah County, Oregon
City of Austin, Texas
Small Audit Shop:
City of West Palm Beach, Florida
Cellular Phones
The panel selected the report submitted by the Internal Auditor’s Office from the City of West Palm Beach, Florida. The audit covered the adequacy of controls over the assignment and use of cellular phones, pagers and radios and the associated costs to the City.The panel selected this report because the internal auditors:
- Focused on an area that impacts the effectiveness and efficiency of every major City Department,
- Focused decision-makers on an often overlooked area that is undergoing constant technological changes and improvements, and
- Provided recommendations designed to improve operational effectiveness and reduce costs.
Medium Audit Shops:
Multnomah County, Oregon
Roadway Capital ProjectsThe panel selected the report submitted by the County Auditor from Multnomah County, Oregon. The audit is titled Roadway Capitol Projects and it reports on a unique approach to the auditors analysis of planning and project management for roadway projects that are the responsibility of the Transportation Division.
The County Auditors and Transportation Division management worked cooperatively on this project to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of controls throughout the capitol project management system for roads. The auditors report that Transportation Division representatives were very involved during the process and offered suggestions and initiated operational changes as the audit progressed. The cooperative audit effort resulted in a report that explains areas of weakness, suggests needed improvements and reports on actions taken by the auditee during the audit. The report contains no recommendations because the auditor extended the time provided for an audit response so that the auditee could prepare and include a project plan that addresses the auditors issues and conveys a commitment to high quality project management. The response by the County Department Chief responsible for implementing the project plan was complementary of the audit and the presentation of the results.
Large Audit Shops:
City of Austin, Texas
Customer Information System
The panel selected the report submitted by the City Auditor from the City of Austin, Texas. The City auditors reported on an assessment of an ongoing attempt to implement a new information technology (IT) project, the City’s Customer Information System. The audit focused on an evaluation of the effectiveness of the plan to manage risk, whether project implementation occurred as planned and whether monitoring was conducted to gauge the progress of a major IT project.
The City auditors presented a clear explanation of how the City moved from a failed attempt at application acquisition to a decision to outsource without developing a viable outsourcing strategy. The report spells out the risks and costs not included in the consideration of outsourcing and the auditors used comparative information to put the results of their review in context with other IT projects. The auditors also recognized positive actions by the City’s elected Officials and reported on the status of their actions.
This report took a sometimes overly complicated subject that impacts both governmental and non-governmental entities and provided clear recommendations to improve management of the specific project and strengthen the City’s overall IT environment.
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Auditing Awards