Public works among items reviewed in Carson City audit

The Audit Committee heard an update on two internal audit projects and discussed what to tackle in the next fiscal year.

Representatives from Moss Adams LLP, Carson City’s internal auditor, discussed the final report from an audit of the large public works projects, and the review of recommendations already made to city’s public guardian.

The auditors made eight recommendations for capital projects costing more than $25,000: developing a scorecard to select projects during the planning process; update Public Works’ construction management documentation manual to include all aspects of project management; use electronic signature services to expedite contract processing; use a single identifier on all documentation to identify projects; better document staff time associated with projects; separate capital project documents to properly track contract modifications; review project costs and performance at close out; and, relatedly, create a post-mortem process for projects.

Jason Link, Carson City chief financial officer, said the city’s new enterprise resource planning software, which is being purchased in the upcoming fiscal year, will better integrate payroll and project time allocations so it will be easier to report the staff hours spent per project.

Of its 13 recommendations made earlier for the public guardian, Moss Adams found three had been completed, four were in progress, and six were undetermined.

The recommendation for the undetermined findings is to follow up with another audit in two years because the procedures, such as implementing an inventory tracking form for ward assets, was done so rarely the auditors needed more of a sample to conduct an audit.

A third project, an audit of grant compliance processes, will be completed and reported on at the Audit Committee’s June 12 meeting.

The committee also discussed possible audit projects for fiscal year 2019.

Four rose to the top of the list: risk assessment, a broad and comprehensive review of areas and procedures prone to risk, fraud and abuse; accounts receivable internal controls testing; a review of approved contracts; and a study of the city’s use of overtime.