HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 8917
CITY OF PALO ALTO OFFICE OF THE CITY AUDITOR
February 13, 2018
The Honorable City Council
Palo Alto, California
Triennial External Quality Control Review of the Office of the City
Auditor
BACKGROUND
The Office of the City Auditor follows Government Auditing Standards, established by
the Comptroller General of the United States. The standards provide a framework for
conducting high quality audits with competence, integrity, objectivity, and
independence. The Government Auditing Standards are mandated for use by federal
audit agencies, but because they are written by government and for government, the
standards are often adopted for use by state and local government audit offices. The
Palo Alto Municipal Code requires the Office of the City Auditor to use the Government
Auditing Standards. By using those standards, we are required to establish and maintain
a system of internal quality control (i.e., policies and procedures) to ensure that our
audits comply with the standards and to have an external quality control review, also
known as a “peer review,” at least once every three years to assess our compliance with
the standards. The attached letter and report contain the results of our most recent
peer review.
In November 2017, government audit professionals from the City and County of Denver,
Colorado, and the City of Raleigh, North Carolina, came to our office to conduct our peer
review. The peer review was coordinated through the Association of Local Government
Auditors. Their review included reviewing our written policies and procedures, our
internal monitoring procedures, the work we did to complete a sample of audit and
nonaudit service engagements, and our compliance with continuing professional
education requirements. The team found that our office fully complied with the
Government Auditing Standards for the period April 15, 2014, through June 30, 2017.
RECOMMENDATION
The Office of the City Auditor recommends that the Policy and Services Committee
review and recommend to the City Council acceptance of the Triennial External Quality
Control Review of the Office of the City Auditor.
Respectfully Submitted,
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Harriet Richardson, City Auditor
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A - External Quality Control Review (PDF)
Department Head: Harriet Richardson, City Auditor
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Attachment A
Attachment A
Attachment A
Attachment A
November 9, 2017
Ms. Sonia Montano Mr. D. Lamar Norwood
Audit Supervisor Senior Internal Auditor
Office of the Auditor City of Raleigh, NC
City & County of Denver, CO
Dear Ms. Montano and Mr. Norwood,
Thank you for conducting the external quality control review of the City of Palo Alto’s Office of the City
Auditor, which the Government Auditing Standards require to be conducted every three years. We are
pleased with your opinion that the Office of the City Auditor’s internal quality control system was
suitably designed and operating effectively to provide reasonable assurance of compliance with the
Government Auditing Standards during the period April 15, 2014, through June 30, 2017.
We appreciate your thorough review, your comments about the areas in which our office excels, and
your suggestion to further enhance our operations. We are committed to continuously improving and
refining our audit processes and, as you noted, have already updated our Audit Policies and Procedures
Manual, as well as the Assessment of Audit Evidence section of our Preliminary Findings and
Recommendations template, to require audit staff to specifically document in their workpapers their
evaluation of the objectivity, credibility, and reliability of testimonial evidence when they are relying on
that evidence to support their audit findings and conclusions.
We would like to express our appreciation and thanks to the peer review team and the Association of
Local Government Auditors for their work and commitment to ensuring that government auditors,
through the peer review process, adhere to Government Auditing Standards. I will share your report
with the City Council and make it available to the public on our website.
Respectfully,
Harriet Richardson, CPA, CIA, CGAP, CRMA
City Auditor
Attachment A