Officials unveil Riverside County’s Fiscal Year 2023-24 Audit Plan 

Riverside County officials have announced the auditor-controller’s Fiscal Year 2023-24 Audit Plan.

At the Nov. 7 Board of Supervisors meeting, Auditor-Controller Ben J. Benoit unveiled his “schedule of audits and other direct audit activities, which are designed to meet the objective of providing timely and comprehensive audit coverage,” according to a county statement.

“During the last fiscal year, the Auditor-Controller’s Office had several noteworthy achievements and I want to commend the Audit Division for all their hard work,” Benoit said in a statement. “In preparation for Fiscal Year 2023/24, our team met with county officials and department directors to discuss and assess countywide risk. Their input was critical, and it helped us identify the risk areas that we need to focus on.”

The plan totals 62 audit projects, including 22 mandated audit projects, 35 follow-up audit projects, four quarterly verifications of the county’s treasury assets and one procurement-card monitoring report, officials said.

“During the beginning of this year, through the Internal Audit Division, we initiated and completed a countywide risk assessment to prioritize the allocation of audit resources for the next two fiscal years,” according to the county statement. “This risk assessment helped identify risks associated with general county operations, how these risks impact the achievement of organizational objectives, and how respective risks are mitigated.” 

Auditors received input from members of the Board of Supervisors, “central service departments’ executive management” from the auditor-controller’s office, County Counsel, Executive Office, Human Resources, Information Technology, Purchasing Department and Treasurer-Tax Collector, as well as county external auditors, officials said. 

“The input we obtained from these meetings was extremely insightful and helped identify the countywide risk areas that will mainly be the focus of the audits we conduct this fiscal year and next,” according to the county statement.

The main objective for doing the countywide risk assessment “was to help instill confidence in the risk management processes and align our efforts to the risk areas that are critical to the county overall,” officials said. “From this point, the Internal Audit Division will independently and objectively evaluate the internal controls designed and put in place by management to help mitigate the risks identified in the countywide risk assessment, and help with overall governance. Through the Internal Audit Division, we are focused on adding value and improving the departments’ operations through a systematic, disciplined approach in evaluating and improving the effectiveness of risk management and control.”

This fiscal year’s audit plan reports accomplishments from the previous fiscal year, such as, during FY 2022-23, the county’s Internal Audit Division issued 54 internal audit reports: 23 mandated audit reports identifying 60 areas for improvement and containing 116 recommendations to strengthen areas with internal controls; 27 follow-up audit reports to ensure implementation of prior recommendations; and three verification reports and one audit report, which was conducted by county external auditors, that reviewed the county treasurer’s  assets.

County auditors also conducted a countywide risk assessment by obtaining input on risk areas from the Board of Supervisors, seven central service departments, and the county’s external auditors. 

“The results of our discussions on risk will be the main audit focus points for Fiscal Year 2023-24 and Fiscal Year 2024-25 audit projects,” officials said.

Additionally, auditors worked with Riverside County Information Technology and Human Resources departments “to bring a countywide solution to a countywide problem discovered as a result of our audits”; finished the assessment “of rate methodologies for 11 departments”; handled 43 new incidents that were reported via the county’s Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline; compiled the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards for the County’s Fiscal Year 2021-22 Single Audit; and monitored the audits of 82 special districts and joint power authorities.

To view the entire Fiscal Year 2023-24 Audit Report, visit auditorcontroller.org/reports-and-publications#2741959481-712317600.

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