Auditor

The Auditor's office seeks to make Mesa's city government more effective, efficient, economical and more accountable.  To achieve this mission we provide a wide array of services designed to improve service delivery and strengthen accountability to Mesa's citizens.  We perform planned audits as well as respond to requests for service and assistance.  This office is organizationally independent of City operations, and in this manner can perform its mission with a high degree of objectivity and ethics.

Our audits may cover the full range of local government performance issues, to evaluate how well the City:

• Complies with laws, regulations, policy, and grant and/or contract terms;

• Safeguards assets from loss, damage, or inappropriate use;

• Reports financial and performance information accurately;

• Operates economically and efficiently;

• Accomplishes goals and;

• Provides quality customer service.

Our staff has diverse academic training and work experience.  All are Certified Public Accountants, Certified Internal Auditors, and/or Certified Fraud Examiners.

Internal control consists of five components:

1. The control environment sets the tone by reflecting the overall attitude, awareness, and actions of the management and staff concerning internal control. The control environment includes the following factors:

• Integrity and ethical values: This may include written policies and codes of conduct but also includes how moral and behavioral standards are communicated and reinforced in practice.
• Commitment to competence: Staff should have the knowledge and skills necessary to perform the required tasks.
• Management philosophy and operating style: Management may be conservative or aggressive in taking risks. Their philosophy is reflected in the emphasis that is placed on goals such and budgetary and performance goals.
• Organizational structure: This outlines how authority and responsibility are assigned.
• Assignment of authority and responsibility: People should have a clear understanding of the organizations objectives, how their duties contribute to the objectives, and how and for what they will be held accountable.
• Human resource policies & practices: Sufficient competent personnel should be employed to accomplish the entity's objectives.

2. Risk assessment consists of the identification, analysis, and management of risk. The external and internal events and circumstances that could adversely affect the organization are considered. Once risks are identified, management considers the significance, the likelihood of their occurrence, and how they should be managed.

3. Control activities are the policies and procedures established to address the risks. Control activities include:

• Physical controls: This includes the physical security of assets plus the access to computer programs and to files and records. Periodic counts of cash and inventories are also physical controls.
• Segregation of duties: It it very important to segregate duties so that no one person performs more than one of the following functions of a transaction (ABC's of internal control):
  • Authorizing the transaction
  • Bookkeeping - recording the transaction
  • Custody of the asset or funds
• Periodic review of results: The performance of the department or area should be periodically reviewed to see if it is meeting its performance goals, budget goals, and other objectives.
• Information testing: Periodically, some tests should be done to check the authorization, accuracy, and completeness of the transactions.

4. Information and communication includes the entry of all transactions into the accounting system in a timely and accurate manner. It also includes the generation of the periodic reports from the system.

5. Monitoring of the systems of internal control needs to be an ongoing process. The systems should be updated as needed.