Process for Selecting Audit Projects
The Office of the City Auditor is responsible for discharging
the duties set forth in Article IV of the City of Tulsa 1989
Amended Charter, as follows:
- Examine the accounts of all offices, divisions, departments,
boards, authorities, commissions, and agencies of the City of
Tulsa
- Make appraisals, comments, and recommendations on the systems
and procedures for keeping and maintaining the financial records,
accounts, and inventories
- Report results to the Mayor and Council
Internal Auditing develops and executes an annual audit program
to carry out these duties. The program is designed to allocate
limited audit resources to the most beneficial purposes.
To help maintain confidence and trust in the professionalism and
integrity of our audit work, the City Auditor's Office follows the
International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal
Auditing (Standards) of the Institute of Internal Auditors. The
Standards specify that selection of audit projects for application
of limited audit resources should be based on a sound risk
assessment.
FOCUS process - Internal Auditing has
developed a risk assessment model to help ensure a systematic,
thorough and objective approach for prioritizing selection of
projects for the Internal Audit Plan. Entitled FOCUS (representing
Factors Operating to Create Ultimate Success), the risk model
considers six factors. Each of these risk factors has defined
evaluation criteria.
These six risk factors help focus audit projects on
important city issues
| 1 |
Size |
What is the dollar value of the assets, budget or revenues of
the activity? |
| 2 |
Security
|
How safe are the assets from conversion to private use? |
| 3 |
Trust |
How much impact does the activity have on customers - the
citizens of Tulsa? |
| 4 |
Simplicity |
How complicated is the activity? |
| 5 |
Stability |
Has there been significant change in operations? |
| 6 |
Responsibility |
Are employees competent, committed, and ethical? Are there
established objectives, clearly defined procedures, good
information and communication, and management monitoring? |
Considering these factors and weighing them in respect to more
than 150 potential projects, we create our audit plan. Each year,
we publish the plan and distribute it to the Mayor and Council.
Accomplishment of the audit plan is funded through the Internal
Auditing Department's budget approved by the City Council.
Allocation of audit resources - Internal Auditing estimated the
number of staff hours available in the fiscal year. These hours
were allocated first to complete the audit projects in process and
the ongoing audit functions carried out each year. Hours were
reserved to respond to requests from management and elected
officials for unplanned special projects. The remaining time was
available for allocation to new audit projects.
Selection of new audit projects - The remaining hours available
for new projects allowed the addition of four projects. Selection
of the new audit projects was based primarily on FOCUS evaluations.
Other factors affecting project selection included previous audit
date, audit coverage in particular departments, management requests
and auditor judgment.
