ROLE 1: Audit Performance or PM Systems
Practice 1a. Audit performance: Measure or assess performance during an audit or other study based on authoritative auditing standards.
Kansas City, Missouri, City Auditor [Profile]
When the City Auditor’s Office conducts performance audits and finds existing performance measures or data inadequate for assessing agency or program performance, that inadequacy may be a finding in itself, or the auditors may develop measures they consider more valid and obtain needed data to make a judgment on current performance. Auditors generally discuss potential new performance measures with management early in the audit process in order to develop reasonable measures and help avoid “going down a blind alley” in pursuing data that does not turn out to be valid or useful. While acting on management’s advice is at the auditor’s discretion, this may help lead to better measures being identified that will have more credibility for future use by management.
The City Auditor’s experience with the Department of Parks and Recreation in recent years is an example of how findings of a lack of performance measures in earlier audit projects led to a later performance audit in which the audit staff measured performance themselves. In 1996 and 2000, the City Auditor’s Office made recommendations that the Parks and Recreation Department develop standards for maintenance quality, and report progress towards those standards. In 2002, with the department still not reporting data on parks conditions, the City Auditor’s Office conducted a performance audit in which it designed its own trained observer rating system using a five-point scale (see “tools”), and inspected and rated conditions in 50 parks. Audit office staff photographed park conditions to support their ratings, and included selected photos in the November 2002 audit report to illustrate some of the more common problem conditions found. As a result of the 2002 Park Conditions audit, and subsequent questions of the department by City Council, management at the Department of Parks and Recreation established a trained observer rating system for its parks, and is rating them by geographic sector so it can internally benchmark conditions by park district. The results of the department’s efforts are included in the annual City Services Performance Reports, starting with the edition for fiscal year 2003.
In January 2004, the department began doing similar assessments of the condition of the Parks and Recreation Department’s community centers. These scores were included in the City Services Performance reports for fiscal years 2004 and 2005.
Tools:
Methodology for Rating Parks Conditions and Inspections Results (Appendices B & C) (PDF) of the 2002 Park Conditions audit report (document also includes Appendix A. Parks Inspected)
Reports:
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