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The Mechanics of Government
Auditors are the specialty mechanics of government. While we don’t make the repairs ourselves, we diagnose the problems and recommend solutions. I know the metaphor…
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What I learned without training
After thirty years of auditing in three entirely different work environments—city, county, and state—I learned far more than I was taught. Continuing professional education is…
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Accountability Story: The biggest impact report in my career
To start, you should know that this 2003 report was not an audit. This was not a safe place to send auditors, so we hired…
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Measuring the Vigor in Your Community
Presented at the 2005 ALGA Conference Auditing isn’t the only accountability tool. The mission, framework and methods of performance auditing have parallels in other accountability…
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Auditing between and among
We interview and observe and analyze our audit areas to identify issues that ultimately turn into findings and audit reports. We make recommendations to address…
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“Sometimes you eat the bar…”
I refer to that phrase from The Big Lebowski because I think it captures a challenge we face when auditing public safety agencies. In our…
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Long Story: The Flourish and Fade of a Measurement System
Let’s start with a piece by Jorge Luis Borges called “On Exactitude in Science.” In that Empire, the Art of Cartography attained such Perfection that…
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Halcyon Times
Presented to the Biennial Intergovernmental Audit Forum It is 1998 and a grand time to be a performance auditor! Managers are emphasizing measurement and improvement.…
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Writing audits in a post-journalism reality
I believe that our audits will become even more important in the future, though we face our own dangers. Honest brokers of the facts are…
Questions, Suspicions, Clarity, Solutions
