Awards Committee Report

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Auditing Awards

Awards Committee Report - Winter 2009

Written by Pamela Weipert

The Awards Committee encourages all organizational members to participate in the ALGA Awards programs. Organizational members are audit shops from local governments, school districts, boards and authorities that conduct audits as a primary duty.

Organizational members hold ALGA memberships for all auditors (including the Chief Audit Executive) in the audit shop. State audit shops, CPA firms, etc. are not eligible for awards.

The Knighton Award recognizes the best performance audit reports of the preceding year. The ALGA Website Award recognizes organizational members' websites. The Lifetime Member Award is given by the Board of Directors as determined by the Board from the nominations received. All award recipients will be honored at the ALGA Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas, May 16 - 19, 2010.

Volunteers Needed!

We also encourage you to volunteer your time as an ALGA Awards Judge (please indicate whether you would prefer to serve as a Knighton or Website Judge). We rely on the judgment of many knowledgeable people to select our awards recipients every year. Please volunteer to be a judge today. Contact the ALGA Awards Committee Chairman, Bill Cook at 780-496-5334 or bill.cook@edmonton.ca. Judges are not allowed to judge within their own shop size category or within any category where they could be in conflict of interest because of work history. Judges are not allowed to judge in a category in which there is a submission from an organization to which the judge belongs (or belonged during the last three years)

2009 Knighton Awards

Did you publish an outstanding performance audit report in 2009? We encourage you to participate in the Knighton Awards program, which recognizes the best performance audit reports of the year.

The three award categories for the Knighton Award are defined as audit shops of the following sizes:

Small = 1 to 5 auditors
Medium = 6 to 15 auditors
Large = over 15 auditors

Note: Shop sizes include the Chief Audit Executive (e.g., City Auditor), but not administrative support personnel. Consultants working as full time employees should also be included.

Criteria the judges use for the Knighton Awards are (equal weighting for each criterion):

Scope and potential for significant impact
Persuasiveness of conclusions
Focus of the recommendations on effective and efficient government
Clarity and conciseness of communication style
Innovation

To be eligible to receive the Knighton Award, the following submission guidelines must be followed:

The submitting office must be an organizational member of ALGA (see definition above).
The submitting office must have issued the audit report during the 2009 calendar year.
Each submitting office can submit only one performance audit report.
The submitting office must take "majority responsibility" for the conduct of the performance audit.
Judges and their organizations are eligible, as long as they do not judge within their category. Awards Committee members and their organizations are also eligible and appropriate provisions will be made to ensure an independent judging process.

Each Knighton Award submission package must include the following:

A signed cover letter from the submitting office, which must include the following items:

o Permission to post the report on the ALGA website in the event that it wins an award,

o The size of the submitting office (the number of audit staff, including the Chief Audit Executive) and the award category - Small, Medium, or Large,

o A statement of why the submitting office believes that the performance audit report meets or exceeds the award evaluation criteria,

o A statement that the submitting office takes "majority responsibility" for the project, and

o The date on which the report was issued.

The performance audit report being submitted for a Knighton Award:

o Must have been conducted in accordance with either Yellow Book or Red Book standards.

o Must include a standards compliance statement or a modified compliance statement that is obvious within the report (on the front cover, inside the front cover, in the report introduction, in the background section, etc.).

Any associated documents and schedules that the submitting office wishes the judges to consider. If the submitting shop wishes to include additional material for the judges' consideration, please try to restrict the total size of the submission to not more than 5 MB (e.g., use PDF quality settings that reduce the file sizes). If the submitting office has additional material (e.g., video of a news item) that it would like the judges to consider, twelve (12) copies must be received by ALGA Member Services on CD or DVD prior to the submission deadline. It is solely the submitter's responsibility to ensure that Member Services receives all materials prior to the submission deadline. Member Services will not copy materials other than the report and associated documents. Materials not received by the deadline will not be considered by the judges.
To be considered for an award, all documents must be submitted electronically in PDF format[1]. Note: Links to the documents on a website will not be accepted.
Note that the PDF documents must not be protected in any manner that would prevent printing or require a password to access the documents. Protected documents will be disqualified.

ALGA has a long history of recognizing the accomplishments of its members. The Knighton Awards Program was developed in order to recognize the best performance audit reports issued by members each year. Submitting offices shall submit only those reports for which the audit shop takes "majority responsibility" for the effort. This rule should be considered as a criterion of "spirit versus letter." The criterion is intended to ensure that ALGA's members are given equal opportunity for recognition based upon an audit shop's professional growth and achievement rather than its budget.

Judges will be asked to recommend up to three performance audit reports for awards in each award category. Gold, Silver and Bronze awards or Honorable Mention recognition can be granted to the performance reports deemed to be of highest quality and worthy to be named recipients of the prestigious Knighton Award.

Your documents must be submitted in unprotected PDF format only to ALGA Member Services (Fay Kurkjy) at fkurkjy@nasact.org and received no later than January 8, 2010 at 5:00 pm, Eastern Time. Submissions received after the deadline will not be accepted. When ALGA Member Services receives your submission, they will reply with a confirmation email that lists the documents they received. If you have not received confirmation within two days, please contact Member Services directly. The submitting office is solely responsible to ensure that Member Services receives their submission.

The ALGA Awards Committee, its Chairman and the ALGA President will coordinate and manage the judging of the entries. The judges will make recommendations to the Awards Committee regarding the reports that have been chosen to receive the Gold, Silver or Bronze Knighton Awards or Honorable Mention recognition. The judges will be instructed to only recommend awards and honorable mention recognition for reports that they deem to be worthy of recognition. For example, they may choose not to name recipients for a Silver or Bronze award or Honorable Mentions. The decision of Judges and the Awards Committee regarding this matter are final.

Once the winners are determined, the Awards Committee Chairman will announce the Knighton winners in each category.

The Gold award recipient in each category will receive the following (provided that the audit shop agrees to present the winning audit report at the 2010 ALGA Annual Conference):

Airfare at the 21-day advance coach fare.
Three (3) nights hotel accommodations. An additional night of hotel accommodations (total number of nights of hotel accommodations not to exceed four (4) nights) may be paid if more cost effective for ALGA.
Airfare and hotel expenses not to exceed $1,000.
One Conference registration.

Please note that the ALGA Conference Chair (the President-Elect) has the discretion to modify or limit the airfare and hotel accommodations when in the best interest of ALGA.

Each award winner will receive the following:

Award plaque
Press release
Letter signed by the ALGA President to the appropriate officials as requested by the award winners

We encourage all eligible member organizations to submit their best report of the 2009 calendar year for the Knighton Awards Program. Remember, you can't win if you don't enter!

2010 Website Awards

The primary goals of the Website Award Program are to: 1) encourage all audit shops to improve their websites, 2) reward organizations that have outstanding websites, and 3) provide audit shops with general guidelines for improving their own sites. Website Awards are given to the three organizational member websites determined by the judges to be the best demonstrations of content; usability and accessibility; design; uniqueness; and a wildcard (for extras or exceptional areas). If the judges deem appropriate, an "Honorable Mention" may be awarded to any submission.

The organizations to which the judges belong (or belonged to during the last three years) are not eligible to participate in the Website Award Program. The organization to which the gold award is given will receive one complimentary conference registration and an award plaque. The winning websites will be featured in the Local Government Auditing Quarterly in an article describing their attributes.

The judging panel will rank the submissions and award the Website Awards to the highest ranking websites. If the judges deem appropriate, an honourable mention may be awarded to any organization. The evaluation criteria are composed of five scoring categories: content; usability and accessibility; design; uniqueness; and a wildcard (for extras or exceptional areas).

The application form requests basic information and a narrative explaining why the website should be considered (see the Website Submission form). Your documents must be submitted in unprotected PDF format only using the Website Submission form and sending it to ALGA Member Services (Fay Kurkjy) at fkurkjy@nasact.org. The application must be received no later than January 8, 2010 at 5:00 pm, Eastern Time. Submissions received after the deadline will not be accepted.

When ALGA Member Services receives your submission, they will reply with a confirmation email that lists the documents they received. If you have not received confirmation within two days, you must contact Member Services directly. You are solely responsible to ensure that Member Services receives your submission. If Member Services is unable to open the submission, it will be disqualified.

2010 Lifetime Membership Awards

This award recognizes individuals who have gone above and beyond the norm in service to our Association and have often worked with other organizations and Associations to establish or improve auditing standards and the environment in which we work. Their volunteer efforts are often trail-blazing, setting up new ways of doing our jobs or establishing new interrelationships with other organizations. If you would like to submit the name of an individual you believe would be a good candidate for the 2010 Lifetime Member Award, please do so using the form in Attachment B - there is a Microsoft Word version of the nomination form attached to this PDF document.

The Lifetime Membership Award recognizes and honors auditors who have made lasting and worthwhile contributions to local government auditing through their extraordinary service to ALGA. Each year, the Board of Directors accepts nominations for the Lifetime Membership Award and reviews the applications to determine whether nominees meet the established criteria. Award recipients shall be determined by a majority vote of the Board. The selection will be announced and appropriate honors bestowed at the annual conference. Active ALGA members may submit nominations. No individual may submit more than one nomination.

Four criteria are used as a guide for evaluating nominees; however, these serve only as a general guideline. Specific requirements may be waived at the discretion of the Board. The criteria include:

Active membership in ALGA for at least 10 years.
Service to ALGA as an officer, Board member, and/or committee chair.
Contributions to ALGA in a significant and specific manner (e.g. projects, presentations, peer reviews, publications).
No longer employed as a local government auditor.

Nominations must include a Lifetime Award Application Form, a transmittal letter providing a brief explanation of why the nominee should be considered for the award, and two letters of support from other ALGA members not affiliated with the nominee's former local government agency.

Lifetime members will receive the following benefits:

A plaque suitably inscribed.
Recognition at the annual conference and in the Local Government Auditing Quarterly.
A press release distributed to the local press in the recipient's hometown.
Complimentary individual membership to ALGA.
Complimentary subscription to the Local Government Auditing Quarterly.
Complimentary registration for the annual conference.

Lifetime Members may serve on ALGA committees. However, they may not serve as Officers, Board Members, or Committee Chairs nor vote in elections.

Your documents (your covering letter, a completed Attachment B, and two supporting letters) must be submitted in unprotected PDF format only to ALGA Member Services (Fay Kurkjy) at fkurkjy@nasact.org and received no later than January 8, 2010 at 5:00 pm, Eastern Time. Submissions received after the deadline or that cannot be opened and printed will not be accepted.

[1] If you don't have Adobe Acrobat available, there are several free options available to print from virtually any document to PDF format. Examples include OpenOffice at http://openoffice.org, Primo PDF at http://www.primopdf.com/ (the site also allows you to create PDFs from your web browser by going to https://online.primopdf.com/Default.aspx). The free online PDF converter at http://www.freepdfconvert.com/ does a very good job of converting MS Office documents to PDF.

Association of Local Government Auditors