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Roads audit wins 2012 Silver Knighton Award

Sudbury’s internal audit department has won an award from a North American association of auditors, a group that includes more than 300 audit departments in cities in Canada and the United States.
Bad_Road
Auditor General Brian Bigger's report on Sudbury's roads repair system revealed a host of issues, including lack of quality control and some $450,000 in missing recycled asphalt. File photo
Sudbury’s internal audit department has won an award from a North American association of auditors, a group that includes more than 300 audit departments in cities in Canada and the United States.

The award is for a 2012 audit of the city’s roads department, entitled Impact of Changes to Road Design. It won the 2012 Silver Knighton Award from the Association of Local Government Auditors.

Auditor General Brian Bigger said a lot of the credit for the award should go to Carolyn Jodouin, a senior auditor in the department who left in late 2012.

“A large part of this is due to Carolyn’s work, and she’s going to go with me to accept the award,” Bigger said. “We’re both very excited about it.”

There will be an awards ceremony May 6 in Nashville, Tenn., at the auditor association’s annual conference. Bigger said Jodouin is paying her own way so she can attend.

“You get an actual award and recognition from our peers,” he said. “It’s actually very prestigious and I’m extremely proud to win the award.”

The association includes large and small public-sector audit departments, including cities and schools. It gives awards in categories depending on the size of the organization or municipality. Sudbury’s award was in the small shop audit category, of which there are many, Bigger said.

“The association includes cities as large as New York and Los Angeles and Miami, as well as places like Toronto, Edmonton and Sudbury,” said Bigger.

The award announcement comes at a time when the future of Sudbury’s internal audit is under review. While committing to making the audits permanent, city council has hired a consultant, James Key, to make recommendations on what form the audits could take in the long term. Key is expected to be in Sudbury this week to begin this process.

“I’m looking forward to meeting with Mr. Key,” Bigger said. “I welcome anyone who can come in and give us ideas on where we can improve. That’s what audits are about – continuous improvement.”

While he was unsure of the impact the award would have on the review process, Bigger said it certainly demonstrates the quality of their work.

“We’ve shown what we can do, and we know we can do the job,” he said. “We have confidence in our abilities, and, obviously, our peers appreciate the report that we wrote.

“I think it’s clear we’re not doing a horrible job.”

In a press release, Greater Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk praised the auditor’s office and congratulated them for the award.

“On behalf of the City of Greater Sudbury and council, I congratulate our auditor general’s office for this recognition,” Matichuk said. “The municipal audit function is a very important one, and I’m pleased to see the work of our city auditors being rewarded in this way.”

Among other findings, the roads audit found problems with the way recycled asphalt was inventoried – with 30,000 tonnes unaccounted for – and with ensuring that the asphalt being used in city roads matched the quality outlined in road contracts.

According to a press release from the association, each year, local government audit organizations from around the U.S. and Canada submit their best performance audit reports for judging.

“The purpose of the competition is to improve government services by encouraging and increasing levels of excellence among local government auditors,” the release said. “Judges from peer organizations determined that this audit was among the best of 2012.”

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Darren MacDonald

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