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SMALL SHOP WINNERS (1-5 auditors)
- Gold - South Florida Water Management District (FL)
Reservoir Construction
South Florida Water's report was excellent and contained significant findings. The audit undertook review of a very large construction project and delivered large savings ($28 million), while also focusing on future project phases, creating additional opportunities for savings. Solid and impressive auditing supported persuasive recommendations, evidenced by the number of findings implemented by management before the report was released. Technical details were clearly presented.
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- Silver - Metro Portland (OR)
Waste Reduction and Outreach
Metro's report focused on improving the performance of a critical government purpose. The audit achieved a strategic shift in the organization. The data analysis was effective and the conclusions were clear, on-point, and persuasive. The report layout and charts complemented a well-written product.
- Bronze - Lawrence (KS)
Financial Indicators
Lawrence's report was easy to read and follow, using comparative date effectively. The audit linked conclusions to management decisions and can impact the organization's ability to project trends and identify potential problems. The audit topic was innovative and novel, addressing a topic which can be difficult to communicate to the lay person.
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- Honorable Mention - Chesapeake (VA)
Fire Department Overtime
Chesapeake's report demonstrated a significant effort and reached well-supported conclusions. The audit had many positive conclusions and also addressed high risk areas. The well-written report was highlighted with effective usage of charts and graphs.
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- Honorable Mention - Palo Alto (CA)
Employee Ethics
Palo Alto's report addressed an important area which is not often undertaken by auditors. The audit was well-researched and provides helpful information for elected officials. Auditors overcame initial resistance from the auditee and delivered clear recommendations.
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MEDIUM SHOP WINNERS (6-15 auditors)
- Gold - Atlanta (GA)
Review of the Oracle ERP First Payroll Run
The City of Atlanta, City Auditor's Office - Review of the Oracle ERP First Payroll Run earned the Gold Medal Award for its concise presentation, timeliness, inclusion of auditees in the process, recovery of monies, insightful identification of causes, and auditee specificity in recommendation implementation.
The audit demonstrates the effectiveness of synergy amongst auditors and auditees. It discusses several breakdowns in controls. Auditors focused on the process and the need to improve the control environment. They were very successful in working with the various auditees to identify and rectify problems.
The audit was presented in an effective PowerPoint presentation that was especially succinct, assigned responsibility for findings, included auditor analysis of implementation of certain recommendations, and most notably, provided context to understand system failures as they related to system successes. This audit understood the concerns management had with a new payroll system, and presented timely information that management could understand - and recommendations that management could implement immediately. Well done - City of Atlanta, City Auditor's Office!
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- Silver - Portland (OR)
Housing Tax Abatements: Oversight Inadequate to Ensure Program Goals
The Office of the City Auditor, City of Portland - Housing Tax Abatements: Oversight Inadequate to Ensure Program Goals focused on a standard and growing practice of many municipalities and showed, in an easy to read format, how it was negatively affecting tax collections for the city and other municipalities. The report was well laid-out, with plenty of white space and bold summaries to break up the main text. In addition, the appendix contained helpful graphics, charts, maps, and pictures that explained the issues in more detail.
This audit was exceptional in its scope and potential for significant impact. Not only did the audit uncover questionable tax abatements that cost the City of Portland millions of dollars, but it also reported millions of dollars in lost tax revenues for other local municipalities. Recommendations made should assist the City in granting only appropriate tax abatements. In addition, the report clearly laid out the facts in simple terms. This helped to gain full concurrence from the Mayor and other affected parties on a politically sensitive subject.
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- Bronze - City of Edmonton (AB)
23rd Avenue and Gateway Boulevard Interchange Project Review
The City of Edmonton's Office of the City Auditor - 23rd Avenue and Gateway Boulevard Interchange Project Review of a construction project evaluated the reasons for a nearly fourfold cost increase and five-year delay to build a traffic interchange. They also determined whether the City exercised due diligence as the project's owner. Judges felt this was an important audit of a high dollar project. Despite finding many problems with controls, the report keeps its tone positive and is constructive.
Auditors created a PowerPoint summary of the report to help communicate results to management. The comprehensiveness of the review and the detailed recommendations are impressive. Management agreed with almost all recommendations and, based on the audit, the City is taking actions to improve its management of future projects.
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- Honorable Mention - Long Beach (CA)
Long Beach Museum of Art Capital Campaign Audit
The Office of the City Auditor, City of Long Beach, California - Long Beach Museum of Art Capital Campaign Audit confirmed that the Art Foundation did not have sufficient funds to repay the City for bonds issued for the Museum of Art's Capital Campaign. By identifying the total deficit (in excess of $2M), the auditors made both City and Foundation management aware of the magnitude of additional fundraising efforts required and gave management an opportunity to develop a plan to address the shortfall 15 months prior to the bond repayment due date. A chart depicting the actual cash flow provided a calculation of the deficit.
The overall recommendation to review management's progress in 90-day, six-month, and one-year intervals provides City and Art Foundation management an opportunity to continuously monitor current progress and the effectiveness of existing strategies. This will assist management in preventing an unnecessary burden on the City's General Fund.
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LARGE SHOP WINNERS (16 or more auditors)
- Gold - City of San Jose (CA)
An Audit of Retirement Services Travel Expenses
The City of San Jose's Audit of Retirement Services Travel Expenses was an outstanding report that recommends some great controls that focus on effective and efficient government. The report is easy to read and understand and the auditee noted it was "clear and concise." The audit team overcame many obstacles during the audit to ultimately persuade many local government officials that the approach and subsequent recommendations had merit. Analytical reviews identified alarming trends in travel expenses. The auditors' tenaciousness was recognized in the local press and added an element of transparency to the recommendations and corrective action. This audit has the "Wow" factor!
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- Silver - City of Philadelphia (PA)
Subway Safety: Protecting Our Citizens
The Philadelphia City Controller's Office assessed the state of security in the city's subways, adjacent rail stations, and concourses. The purpose of the audit was to determine what could be done to reduce the security risk in these areas. The audit was performed in response to a violent crime that took place in the city's subway system. The connection between the school district, certain policies and procedures of SEPTA, and youth crime to transit safety was persuasive. The use of photos, charts, and tables in the report was effective. The information in the report was relevant and responsive. The report was well written making it easy to read. It clearly demonstrated why the public is at risk. In addition, the recommendations identified meaningful ways to reduce the targeted risk.
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- Bronze - Maricopa County (AZ)
Air Quality Department
Air quality and its enforcement is a significant topic as it impacts the entire population. In a concise well-written report by the Maricopa County Auditor's Office, the auditors dealt with the issues of how penalties were enforced by the Air Quality Department. The report clearly focused on the importance of penalties being enforced and proper documentation of the violation which results in the penalty, as well as consideration of the proper amount of penalty to entice companies to correct violations. Through the use of performance measures, the auditors clearly demonstrated weaknesses in the negotiation of penalty violations, lack of clear rationale for penalty reductions and timeliness in imposing and/or resolving penalties due to violations. This report focused on main points and used visual aids to demonstrate key concepts allowing readers to understand report objectives and results with a minimal amount of distraction.
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- Honorable Mention - Toronto (ON)
City Performance in Achieving Access, Equity, and Human Rights Goals
The City of Toronto's report on City Performance in Achieving Access, Equity and Human Rights Goals was clearly written and very informative. It focuses on whether the 2003 plan achieved access, equity and human rights goals. Areas affected by lack of oversight, jurisdiction and limited resources were identified. A recommendation was made to implement a hot-line to help offset limited resources. The report also recommended engaging members of the community to take into consideration the opinions of individuals in areas experiencing changing demographics. The auditors used benchmarking which included City agencies, boards, commissions and corporations.
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