Audit
Recommendation
Follow-Up
Photo: Matthew Roth, Wiki Commons
Michael C. Houston
City Auditor
as of December 31, 2024
Presentation to the
Finance & Management
Committee
April 22, 2025
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 fulfills a Charter requirement
● The City Charter requires the City Auditor submit, at a public meeting of the City Council, a semi-annual report to the Council and public on the extent of implementation of recommendations for corrective actions made in in the City Auditor’s reports (Section 403 (4)(8)).
● To this end, our Office published its third semi-annual report on the status of open audit recommendations on March 28, 2025.
Audit Recommendation Follow-Up as of
December 31, 2024
• This report covers 288 unique recommendations from 45 performance audits issued since 2014 (as of December 31, 2024).
• Our previous report was the second semiannual report, with status updates as of June 30, 2024.
• 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.
Audit Recommendation Follow-Up as of
December 31, 2024
● 13 new recommendations were added based on newly issued audits:
○ Performance Audit of Grants from the City of Oakland to Saba Grocers Initiative and its Fiscal Sponsor (issued July 2024)
○ Performance Audit of Citywide Pay Equity (issued November 2024) ● 39 recommendations have changed status (from not implemented to partially implemented or implemented, or from partially implemented to implemented) ● This represents an improvement from the last cycle
● Effective December 26, 2024, the City Administrator and City Auditor jointly signed an update to Administrative Instruction (AI) 701 Implementing Audit Recommendations to describe the semi-annual follow up process
● We anticipate additional recommendations to change status in the upcoming cycle 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
The number of audit recommendations made
varies by year, depending on the number and
types of audits completed
162 73 53
Implemented or closed Partially implemented Not implemented Overall, 162 (or 56%) audit recommendations have
been implemented or closed
Examples of implemented recommendations from this cycle:
• The Fire Prevention Bureau of the Oakland Fire Department (OFD) has made concerted efforts to bring Oakland schools up to fire code. The Fire Marshal issued a letter in November 2024 to the Superintendent of the District on fire code deficiencies and necessary actions for OUSD to take (from the audit of Fire Prevention, 2020). • The City has developed written goals and objectives for encampment management and staff created an encampment management organizational chart, which includes three responsibilities (from the audit of encampment management, 2021). 126 recommendations remain open
Examples of open recommendations include:
● A recommendation to ensure that requirements within service provider contracts reflect adopted performance metrics and targets and ensure such requirements are consistent across different service provider contracts within the same program type (Recommendation 4 from the audit of the City of Oakland's Homelessness Services, 2022).
● Thirteen (13) recommendations from the 2019 audit of the Oakland Police Department’s overtime intend to improve overtime planning, management, and tracking, and limiting the use of overtime by individual employees and the department as a whole.
● At least seven (7) open recommendations that rely on the adoption of the draft Consolidated Fiscal Policy (CFP) that the Department of Finance presented to the Finance and Management Committee. These include updates pertaining to Citywide policy on grants management, maintenance of efforts thresholds, and reserve policies.
50 27
1010854432111
Multiple
City Administrator
Finance
Human Services
CPRA
Police Department
Police Commission
Race and Equity
Public Works
Fire Department
Commission on
Homelessness
Human Resource
Management
Public Ethics
Commission
Open Audit Recommendations
Partially Implemented
Not Implemented
Most open audit recommendations are
addressed to multiple departments or the City
Administrator’s Office
22 9
5 5
6 6
34 13
12 11
2 1
Efficiency and Effectiveness
Transparency and Accountability
Compliance
Safeguarding Public Resources
Equity
Economic Benefits
Not Implemented Partially Implemented
Most of the open recommendations seek to
improve the efficiency and effectiveness of city
services
Appendices show recommendations by
audit and individual status updates
Questions?
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Contact: [email protected]