ALGA - Benefits for Local Government Auditors

Brenda Roberts is an auditor with an MBA in finance and years of experience working for private and publicly held companies, and for government organizations. As a professional, she has benefitted from membership in several associations that foster the important work of auditors, including the Institute of Internal Auditors, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and local chapters of CPA societies. In her role as government auditor, she supported the Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA), a professional group dedicated to promoting the profession of auditors working in local and regional governments worldwide.

Formed in 1989, ALGA serves more than 2,500 individual members and 300 governmental auditing agencies. Its mission is to provide a community support for these auditors through advocacy and education, and the promotion of standards and ethics.

Audit reporting from corporate auditing organizations is generally a confidential process--reports and audit findings are reviewed by management and addressed by their Board of Directors. But audit reports issued by government auditors are public documents. This supports the cornerstone of democracy and good government--transparency. As such, government auditors have a greater responsibility – to report fully and truthfully the status of transactions, financial position and program accomplishments (or failures) to the residents, taxpayers and beneficiaries of government programs.

To maintain and support the standards government auditors must adhere to, ALGA provides a Peer Review program. A peer review is an independent and objective examination of the activities of the government audit agency, using standards and codes of ethics as guidelines for this review. At the conclusion of this review, a summary of findings is produced, stating whether the audit agency operates within these frameworks, or improvements are required. Members of ALGA must undergo a peer review every 3 years to maintain their membership in good standing.

During her tenure as Audit Manager at the City & County of San Francisco and City Auditor for the City of Oakland these audit agencies participated in peer review evaluations, in compliance with ALGA’s requirements. The conclusions for each of these reviews was ‘no negative findings’, a clear indication that under Ms. Roberts’ management, these audit departments fulfilled their obligations to the standards and ethics of the professional association of auditors.

ALGA acknowledges exceptional work by local government auditors. As a part of the Knighton Award process, audit reports are judged by peer government auditors, identifying audits representing innovative practices, best writing and most challenging audit findings. Audit shops compete against peer shops of similar size, for this award. Brenda Roberts has been vetted with the Knighton award twice—once for her work on the city’s health care system at the City & County of San Francisco. More recently as City Auditor of Oakland, her audit report on housing and the state of the city’s rental housing agency was a Knighton Award winner. The audit recommendations resulted in legislation change in the way Oakland administers its rental housing program.

For more information about ALGA, its programs, membership benefits and local associations, visit www.algaonline.org.