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City of Seattle
Seattle City Council
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NEWS ADVISORY
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| SUBJECT: Seattle City Auditor Receives National Honor
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
4/7/2004 12:22:00 PM |
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Nancy Roberts (206) 684-8146
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SEATTLE CITY AUDITOR RECEIVES NATIONAL HONOR
Cohen one of two “Distinguished Local Government Leadership” awardees
SEATTLE – The Association of Government Accountants has awarded Seattle City Auditor Susan Cohen its Distinguished Local Government Leadership Award for 2003, one of only two such awards given out nationally. The award was presented today at the City Council Finance & Budget Committee meeting.
Cohen has served as Seattle City Auditor since 1998 and was recently confirmed to a second six-year term.
The City Auditor provides independent information and evaluates City policies, practices and expenditures to help the City manage and account for its use of public funds. In 10 years, the Seattle City Auditor has completed 117 audits and studies, and conducted more than 75 consulting and training sessions. During Cohen’s tenure, the office has completed 42 financial/internal control audits and 34 performance audits.
The AGA cited several innovations in audit services that Cohen has introduced to Seattle as demonstration of her leadership in improving City accounting, including: the use of construction audits to monitor capital projects such as the Central Library; self-assessment questionnaires and workshops that allow City departments that are subjects of audits to participate in the resolution of audit findings with a goal of improving operational matters; and internal control consultations that seek to strengthen City department management accountability systems through teamwork rather than an audit review.
Among Cohen’s more visible projects were an audit of City Light that led, in part, to a change in management at the utility, and a 2002 audit of how the City Parks Department schedules its athletic fields – a subject that remains in the news as the City Council considers a plan by the Parks Department to build 11 lighted athletic fields at Magnuson Park.
“It’s important that a City like Seattle has an auditor and staff as capable as ours to identify operational and fiscal efficiencies, and this Council is grateful for their work,” said City Councilmember Richard J. McIver, chair of the Finance & Budget Committee.
The Office of City Auditor publishes its audits and reports on the Web at www.seattle.gov/audit/.
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City Auditor
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