LIHUE — The County Auditor’s office has passed its first peer-review evaluation. The County of Kauai, Office of the County Auditor is an independent office and is not evaluated by another county office. An outside review of its internal quality
LIHUE — The County Auditor’s office has passed its first peer-review evaluation.
The County of Kauai, Office of the County Auditor is an independent office and is not evaluated by another county office. An outside review of its internal quality control systems from January 2011 through December 2012 was to determine if the office was operating in compliance with Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States.
The independent review stated that the County Auditor’s internal quality control system was “suitably designed and operating effectively to provide reasonable assurance of compliance” with government standards.
“We are in compliance,” said County Auditor Ernesto Pasion.
The Association of Local Government Auditors conducted this first peer review and a certificate of compliance was issued with the report dated June 7. It was signed by ALGA President Bill Greene, and Peer Review Committee Chair Gary Chapman.
The ALGA provided two volunteer peer reviewers, F. Michael Taylor, director of the Internal Audit Department for Hanover County, Va., and Bill Greene, auditor for the city of Phoenix. The two were on island last week but files were sent to the Mainland for review prior to their visit to interview county government officials.
The Peer Review Guide covered the auditor’s written policies and procedures, internal monitoring, staff training and development, independence of operation. The report observations said the office excelled with implementing changes to comply with standards and that audit staff excelled at professional growth and certifications.
Passion said he was pleased with the review’s results.
“There is always room for improvement, and they made some suggestions on how to improve the audit manual and our forms,” Pasion said. “We are committed to continuous improvement and the auditing standards and from time to time they update them and we need to adjust forms and manual to conform.”
