Office of the Auditor 1 “Getting an Audit From Project Initiation to Out the Door: Internal Controls and Tips for Ourselves” 20 th Annual Conference Guam July 29, 2009 Marion M. Higa State Auditor, Hawai‘i

Office of the Auditor 2 Goals for this Session Identify internal controls for our own offices Sharpen supervisors’ awareness of how internal controls can trip us up or help us along Understand internal controls and tone at the top

Office of the Auditor 3 Internal Controls? For Ourselves? Outline for today: External governing framework Internal governing framework Personnel manual Work process

Office of the Auditor 4 Internal Controls? For Ourselves? (continued) Outline for today: Supervision and supervisors Elements of a finding: CCECR Communicating our work Quality control program

Office of the Auditor 5 Internal Controls? For Ourselves? (continued) Outline for today: Training program Record keeping Evaluation

Office of the Auditor 6 The external governing framework ◦Where does your organization fit in your government? ◦How was it created? ◦What is your reporting chain? ◦Does everyone in your unit or organization understand this framework?

Office of the Auditor 7 The internal governing framework ◦Policies and procedures ◦Job descriptions ◦Organization chart

Office of the Auditor 8 Personnel manual ◦ADA compliance ◦Sexual harassment ◦Family and Medical Leave Act ◦Conditions of work ◦Dress code

Office of the Auditor 9 Recent personnel issues ◦Generational differences

Office of the Auditor 10 Work process and I/C snags along the way ◦Planning  Role of in-charge  Basic legal research  Risk assessment  Scope creep  Audit plan  Work plan  Hypothesis; theme

Office of the Auditor 11 Work process and I/C snags along the way (continued) ◦Fieldwork  Strength of evidence  On-site work  Electronic working papers

Office of the Auditor 12 Work process and I/C snags along the way (continued) ◦Analysis and report production  Analyst summaries  “Reco-echo”  Preliminary findings and recommendations; outline  Analyst draft  First edit  Office draft  Second edit

Office of the Auditor 13 Work process and I/C snags along the way (continued) ◦Analysis and report production (continued)  Edited draft  Draft for comment  Agency comments; “final pieces”: overview, response to the response, foreword, transmittal paragraph  Final production and distribution  Draft legislation  Testimony

Office of the Auditor 14 Supervision and supervisors ◦The doer; the delegator ◦Role of checklists; GANTT charts ◦Reports to supervisors ◦Meetings

Office of the Auditor 15 The elements of a finding: CCECR ◦Condition ◦Cause ◦Effect ◦Criteria ◦Recommendation

Office of the Auditor 16 Communicating our work ◦Dealing with the media; who? how? ◦Dealing with the legislature ◦Power Point ◦Writing: elevating the elegance

Office of the Auditor 17 eats shoots and leaves eats, shoots, and leaves

Office of the Auditor 18  active vs. passive voice  common errors  Style Guide

Office of the Auditor 19 Quality control program ◦Internal program ◦External program

Office of the Auditor 20 Training program ◦New hire orientation and training ◦All-staff training ◦Supervisory training ◦Personal development

Office of the Auditor 21 Record keeping

Office of the Auditor 22 Evaluation ◦Staff ◦Contractors ◦Process

Office of the Auditor 23 Contact Us: Hawai‘i Office of the Auditor Kekūanaō‘a Building 465 S. King Street, Room 500 Honolulu, Hawai‘i Phone: FAX: Web site: