Audit
Recommendation
Follow-Up
Photo: Matthew Roth, Wiki Commons
Michael C. Houston
City Auditor
as of June 30, 2024
Performance audits seek to improve City
programs and services
• We aim to audit services and programs of the greatest impact to the City and its residents and business owners
• Within those audits, we aim to make recommendations constructive and feasible, and based on reliable evidence
• Our audits have made recommendations designed to improve the effectiveness of services Citywide
• To retain our independence, we perform analysis and make recommendations, but we rely on the City Administration to implement recommendations from audits
This report updates the first semiannual audit
recommendation follow up report
• This report covers 275 unique recommendations from 44 performance audits issued since 2014 (as of June 30, 2024).
• Our previous report was the first semiannual report, with status updates as of December 31, 2023
• Prior to our first semiannual report, our Office followed up on recommendations within individual audits, the most recent being the 2022 Oakland Police Department (OPD) Overtime Recommendation Follow-Up Report, which followed up on 21 recommendations.
• The audit recommendation follow-up cycle allows the City Administrator, the City Council, and the public to see the progress made in implementing audit recommendations twice per year, for periods ending June 30 and December 31.
This report updates the first semiannual audit
recommendation follow up report
● Since the first semiannual audit recommendation follow-up process (as of December 31, 2023), we added 6 recommendations by way of 3 newly issued audits:
1. Audit of Library Parcel Taxes for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-20 through FY 2022-23
2. Audit of the City’s Application to the State of California’s Organized Retail Theft Prevention Grant Program
3. Performance Audit of the Development Services Fund: Centralized Fund Management Will Better Capture Citywide Costs
● 14 recommendations have changed status (from not implemented to partially implemented or implemented, or from partially implemented to implemented) ● We anticipate additional recommendations to change status in the upcoming cycle
Overall, 128 (or 47 Percent) Audit
Recommendations Have Been Implemented or
Closed
128 66 81
Implemented or Closed Partially Implemented Not Implemented Examples of implemented recommendations from this cycle:
• The Fire Department and the Finance Department have developed written procedures for reviewing travel reimbursement requests to ensure no duplicate payments are made. • The Police Commission established a comprehensive onboarding program to ensure new members are well-prepared and integrated.
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Implemented
Partially Implemented
Not Implemented
Closed
Recommendations Take Time—
Recommendations Not Yet Implemented Tend
to be More Recently Issued
Most Open Audit Recommendations are
Addressed to Multiple Departments or the City
Administrator’s Office
60 29
111099544321
Multiple
City Administrator's
Office
Fire Department
Human Services
CPRA
Finance
Police Department
Police Commission
Public Works
Public Ethics
Commission
Department of
Transportation
Commission on
Homelessness
Open Audit Recommendations
Partially Implemented
Not Implemented
Most of the Open Recommendations Seek to
Improve the Efficiency and Effectiveness of City
Services
50 7
12 7
5 28
15 9
8 2
4 Efficiency and Effectiveness
Compliance
Transparency and Accountability
Safeguarding Public Resources
Economic Benefits
Equity
Not Implemented Partially Implemented
7 Open Recommendations Support Budget
Savings
● 5 open audit recommendations seek to reduce the City’s liability for Police overtime through negotiating with the OPOA & OPMA to eliminate the provision that allows sworn staff to defer overtime payments, reducing the comp time accrual limit, setting limits on discretionary overtime, and discontinuing the informal practice of buying back comp time. From 2019 Oakland Police Department Overtime Audit. ● 1 open audit recommendation seeks to adjust the cost of development services to reflect actual costs through regular fee studies. From 2024 Audit of the Development Services Fund.
● 1 open audit recommendation seeks to reduce favor in contracting through risk assessment and controls to prevent delays and additional costs. From 2017 Zero Waste Request for Proposals Audit.
Appendices Show Recommendations By
Audit and Individual Status Updates
Questions?
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Contact: [email protected]