Brochures

The Office of City Auditor also produced two brochures regarding control self-assessments and construction quality assurance services.

Quality Assurance Services: Construction Projects brochure
This brochure briefly describes the resources and methods we can use to conduct quality assurance reviews of construction projects for other City departments.

Control Self-Assessments: Facilitated Workshops brochure
In this audit process an employee team meets with auditors to hold structured discussions on how to achieve its objectives in the most efficient and effective way. Action plans, rather than a formal audit report, are developed to address any obstacles to the objective(s). During these sessions, the employee team provides expertise on its work, while the auditors contribute analytical and facilitation skills to guide the discussion.

Performance Perspective Newsletters

The Office of City Auditor periodically issues a Performance Perspective newsletter. The purpose of Performance Perspective is to highlight general management principles or to disclose successful, useful, or problematic program management issues.

• Impacts of Climate Change: Will Seattle Be Prepared? - 17 May 2004
  The earth’s temperature has been gradually warming since the mid-19th century. This newsletter discusses potential Pacific Northwest climate change impacts, and why we recently initiated a review to determine how Seattle City Light, Seattle Public Utilities, and the Seattle Department of Transportation are incorporating climate change impacts into their long-term planning.



• Understanding the Finances of Key Arena - 24 January 2000
  Seattle Center is responsible for the financial management of the Key Arena. We reviewed the Arena's revenues and expenses and concluded that the Center is managing the Arena's finances well. Management's comments, issued 12 April, are attached.



• Effective Public Private Partnerships - Report #8, 03 September 1999
  Public-private partnerships are arrangements between government and the private sector in which the public partner pays, reimburses, or transfers a public asset to a private partner in return for goods or services. They are a good way to accomplish certain types of projects, but governments should exercise safeguards to protect the interests of citizens.



• Making the Most of GroupWise - Report #7, 04 September 1998
  The City of Seattle has implemented Novell GroupWise as its City-wide e-mail and scheduling software. Our high school intern worked with the Executive Services Department's Technology Office to survey employees to evaluate the effectiveness of the GroupWise training program. Survey results were reported in a PowerPoint presentation. This newsletter provides suggestions for improving use of GroupWise features.



• Different Frameworks; Same Goals - Report #6, 07 March 1997
  This newsletter focuses on five specific performance frameworks used by organizations to improve their operations.



• Creating a High Performance Program: The Performance Framework - Report #5, 11/8/96
  This newsletter discusses the process of developing a "performance framework" to make an organization both more efficient and more effective.



• Handling Cash - Report #4, 12/29/95
  This newsletter emphasizes the importance of good cash-handling procedures and provides a checklist to help Departments review their cash handling procedures. You can also download the Office of City Auditor Cash-Handling Self-Assessment Questionnaire (31 KB) in Microsoft Word format.



• Management Controls: A Basic Departmental Responsibility - Report #3, 10/31/94
  This newsletter provides information on management and internal controls and emphasizes managers’ responsibility to ensure their functions have appropriate management controls.



• Performance Measures: Their Time Has Come - Report #2, 5/12/94
  This newsletter describes the efforts to use performance measures in the public sector and how they can help make Seattle more results oriented.



• Auditing and Reinventing Government - Report #1, 12/1/93
  This newsletter describes how the goal of reinventing fits well with the Office of City Auditor’s mission to help the City achieve honest, efficient management and full accountability throughout City government. Reinventing government makes government more responsive, effective and less costly by creating an entrepreneurial environment with intense emphasis on results.