The of Audit Service

The mission of auditing is to promote honest, efficient, effective, and fully accountable City government. To fulfill this mission, auditors evaluate City operations to provide useful and objective information to citizens, City Council, and management. 

The Audit Process 

The City's Maintenance Services Department routinely conducts audits, studies and surveys. The primary goal of these inquiries is to ensure that City resources are used as efficiently as possible while sustaining high levels of service and production. Maintenance Services typically conducts two to three performance audits per year. Performance audits typically have four phases.

• Planning (sometimes called Survey or Preliminary Review)
• Fieldwork
• Audit Report
• Follow-up Review

During the Planning portion, the auditor completes the following steps:

• Notifies the client of the audit
• Holds a formal meeting with the client in which the scopes and objective of the audit are discussed
• Gathers information on important processes
• Evaluates the client's existing controls

In the next stage, Fieldwork, the auditor tests the major internal controls to ensure that these are functioning as expected. The Fieldwork stage also comprises:  

• Discussing any significant findings with the client through a series of informal meetings
• Once fieldwork is completed, the auditor communicates the findings in a draft audit report

The third phase can be called Audit Report. In this phase, the auditor(s) construct the “product” of fieldwork and analysis. Like any writing exercise, the report goes through several stages of development:

• Creating a "discussion draft" which is reviewed the client before final submission
• An "exit conference" in which all interested parties meet to discuss the conclusions, recommendations and text of the draft
• The client suggests any changes to the "discussion draft"
• The auditor prepares a formal draft and takes into account any changes or suggestions
• A final report is completed and distributed to all appropriate supervisors, the client, and any other interested parties

The final phase of the audit process is the Audit Follow-up. The responds with a letter which explains the client’s reactions to information found in the Audit Report. The client agrees or disagrees with the conclusions and recommendations and will sometimes outline what he or she plans to due in reaction to this new information. In some cases, a Follow-up Report may be prepared by the client to explain what has be done or corrected since the original Audit Report.

Sources

• "Our Online. City of Portland. 2007. 16 Feb. 2007 http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c27097
• Radke, Terry. "The Internal Audit Process: How It Works!" AuditNet Internet Portal for Auditors. 2005. 16 Feb. 2007 http://www.auditnet.org/process.htm