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December 31, 2008
Long Beach City Auditor Recaps Top 10 Audits
& Accomplishments Of 2008
Challenges Lead To Opportunities
City Auditor Laura Doud released a recap
today of the 2008 top ten audits and
accomplishments of the City Auditor’s
Office.
In 2008, the Office celebrated its
centennial anniversary of service to the
City of Long Beach. For over 100 years the
residents of Long Beach have entrusted the
City Auditor to provide independent
assurance that City funds are well managed,
spent prudently, and reported accurately. In
addition, City Auditor Laura Doud and her
staff have been focused on identifying
revenue due to the City, finding
efficiencies throughout City departments,
and preventing fraud, waste, and abuse of
City resources.
Looking forward to 2009 City Auditor Doud
said, “The current economic climate is
extremely challenging for all government
entities. However, the nature of challenge
is that it leads to opportunities. Perhaps
one of the long-term benefits of this
economic crisis is a re-evaluation and
reprioritization of how each tax dollar is
spent. As we plan for the future, we must
sustain Long Beach as a world-class city
while decreasing its vulnerability to
radical swings in the market.”
Listed below are the top ten audits and
accomplishments of 2008:
10. Comprehensive Annual Financial Audit
Coordinated the Charter-mandated annual
financial audit to ensure the accuracy and
completeness of the City’s books, records,
and accounts.
9. Quarterly Cash Audits
Conducted quarterly analyses of cash and
investments and verified the correctness of
the dollar amounts in each account with
outside depositories.
8. Cash Disbursements Audit
Reviewed each disbursement to ensure
payments are appropriate, timely,
authorized, and documented.
The following FY 08 information illustrates
the scope of this work:
Number of checks reviewed: 50,213
Value of checks reviewed: $701,060,050
Number of checks withheld: 883
Value of checks withheld: $16,828,939
Number of wire transfers authorized: 1,083
Value of wire transfers authorized:
$2,886,236,195
7. Transient Occupancy Tax Audits
Performed Transient Occupancy Tax audits of
all hotels in Long Beach for calendar years
2005, 2006 and 2007. As part of these
audits, the City Auditor’s Office explained
the City’s reporting requirements to each
individual hotel to induce greater
compliance in future years and to maximize
city revenues. As a result, $236,295 of
additional under-reported tax was assessed.
6. Audit of Proposition H Revenues and
Expenditures
Completed first annual audit of Proposition
H revenues and expenditures to ensure
revenue from the oil producers was properly
calculated spent appropriately. The City
collected $3.5 million in the first year
(Fiscal Year 2007), and the funds purchased
a fire truck and hired 14 police officers
and 12 firefighters.
5. Website
Updated City Auditor’s website to provide
easily accessible information to the public.
Received national recognition from the
Association of Local Government Auditors,
winning the Silver 2008 Website Award based
on peer-determined criteria.
4. Fraud Hotline
Revitalized City Auditor’s Fraud Hotline for
City employees, citizens, and vendors to
report fraud against the City easily and
confidentially.
City Auditor Doud testified in Sacramento in
support of new legislation passed and signed
into law in 2008, which makes whistleblower
protection explicit so that residents of all
cities in California can be assured that
their identities are confidential when
reporting fraud.
3. Museum of Art Capital Campaign Audit
and Inventory Audit
Completed audit of the Long Beach Museum of
Art Foundation’s Capital Campaign to
determine the Foundation’s ability to
satisfy a required bond principal payment or
the reasons for its inability to do so.
The audit raised the awareness of the
Foundation’s lack of funds and lack of
formal plan to repay the $3,000,000 revenue
bond principal that is due to the City in
September 2009.
Performed audit of the Long Beach Museum of
Art Inventory to assess controls over
inventory to ensure all City-owned artwork
was fully accounted for and safeguarded.
The audit revealed several weaknesses
including missing artwork, discrepancies
between records of artwork and artwork
observed, the lack of regular inventories of
artwork, and the need for current
appraisals.
2. Long Beach Police Efficiency Study
Monitored the implementation of the City
Auditor’s recommendations of the 2007 Police
Study. As a result of the recommendations
with action by City Management and the
Police Department, overtime was reduced in
fiscal year 2008 by
$4 million.
1. Wheel Clamping
Conducted a cost/benefit analysis on wheel
clamping automobiles and identified $11.7
million in unpaid parking tickets for serial
offenders with five or more unpaid tickets.
“In the coming year the City Auditor’s
Office will continue to work toward ensuring
that taxpayer dollars are carefully spent to
best serve the citizens of Long Beach,” said
City Auditor Doud, “We have appreciated the
support of the Mayor and City Council and
the cooperation of City staff and look
forward to the opportunities ahead of us in
2009.”
Staff
Contact: You are encouraged to contact
Olivia Silva Maiser, Director of
Communications at 562-570-6434 or at
Olivia.Maiser@longbeach.gov
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