Performance Audits in Progress

Several performance audits are under way at any given time, and more are being considered. The following projects are in the performance audit workplan for the current biennium. Once we have completed initial planning work for a performance audit, we add a one-page description of the project setting set out key questions and our plans for conducting the audit. We also add a tentative publication date for the final report. Please note that the proposals and publication dates are subject to change.

Browse our topic areas by clicking on the headings to expand individual project summaries.

Agriculture and Natural Resources

Community Engagement During Contaminated Site Cleanups (winter 2024)

Experts have established a clear link between living near places contaminated with hazardous materials and enduring long-term mental and physical health problems. Cleaning up such sites plays an important role in safeguarding community health by reducing people’s exposure to hazardous materials. Nonetheless, cleanup activities may sometimes pose new risks as workers disturb contaminated soil or water. The people most likely to be affected often belong to marginalized populations whose health and livelihoods may already be compromised. In recent years, Washington’s civic leaders have taken steps to ensure those people directly affected by such sites are not only heard, but their views are also integrated before and during cleanups. This audit will examine the collection and incorporation of public feedback for cleanup programs managed by the state’s Department of Ecology; it specifically excludes nuclear waste cleanup programs. It will also consider the role of the Department of Health as it relates to Ecology’s cleanup activities. Read the one-page summary (PDF). 

Ensuring Climate-Resilient Infrastructure to Meet Washington’s Growing Energy Needs (spring 2025)

Earth’s changing climate will eventually affect nearly every aspect of life in Washington, from the natural and built environment to the people who live and work here. Washington is leading the way in adapting its approach to energy, having already enacted several laws to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by replacing carbon-producing energy plants with renewable energy resources. However, new energy infrastructure projects should be sited and built with climate effects in mind. Already, many agencies and organizations play a critical role in Washington’s ongoing conversion to entirely renewable energy resources. This audit will look at how the state can ensure new energy infrastructure is sited and built considering the forecasted effects of climate change. Read the one-page summary (PDF).

Economic Development

Washington Housing Finance Commission: Oversight of tenant-ownership options (fall 2024)

Tenant ownership plans have the potential to increase homeownership among low-income renters. The Washington State Housing Finance Commission administers the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program to help finance affordable housing developments, which includes an eventual tenant ownership option. Tenant ownership options can vary, for example by the period of tenancy required to be eligible for ownership, how the project owner calculates the purchase price, and whether the owner will credit rent payments toward the purchase price. This audit will examine whether the Commission has followed applicable federal and state laws related to financing and overseeing housing developers who offer such ownership options. It will also consider ways to improve the agency’s oversight of these projects to help achieve positive tenant outcomes. Read the one-page summary (PDF).

Fiscal, Operations and General Government

Evaluating the One Washington Plan for the State’s New Financial System (spring 2024)

Our state is pursuing a multiphase project to replace its outdated financial systems since 2013. The project is managed by One Washington, a program within the Office of Financial Management. The program’s ultimate goal is to integrate many administrative systems (including finance, procurement, budget, human resources and payroll) under a single enterprise resource planning system. Phase 1 – due to be completed on July 1, 2025 –replaces the state’s general ledger accounting system, the Agency Financial Reporting System (AFRS). This audit will evaluate whether One Washington appears well prepared to reach the Phase 1 goal and, if necessary, make recommendations to resolve any potential weaknesses or limitations in One Washington’s current plan before the new system goes live. Read the one-page summary. (PDF)

Evaluating State Oversight of the Cannabis Industry Follow-up (summer 2024)

In 2018, we conducted a performance audit designed to help Washington’s Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) identify risks in managing the newly created recreational cannabis industry. We recommended LCB develop and automate risk management tools that could use existing tracking data to identify potentially illegal transactions. Such tools would allow regulators to prioritize enforcement and auditing of licensees based on risk, but LCB has not yet implemented our recommendations. This audit will consider the obstacles the agency encountered in doing so, and how it currently ensures efficient, targeted, industry regulation to minimize criminal activity. In particular, the audit will evaluate how LCB prioritizes its enforcement and audit activities to minimize illegal production and diversion of cannabis products to the black market. Read the one-page summary. (PDF)

Reducing the Risk of Unusual Dual Employment Payroll Payments (spring 2025)

The COVID-19 pandemic brought upsetting – but also sometimes beneficial – changes to the way that people work. Remote work and flexible hours allowed more people to hold two or more jobs simultaneously. Workers can benefit from this growing trend, known as dual employment, by gaining additional income and skills. Nonetheless, dual employment can pose the risk of payroll fraud to unwary employers. The State Auditor’s Office has investigated multiple instances in which government employees inappropriately worked at two agencies during overlapping office hours. This audit will identify leading practices that agencies and Office of Financial Management can use to monitor payroll payments from multiple state agencies. Read the one-page summary. (PDF)

Health and Human Services

Examining Concurrent Multistate Enrollments in Medicaid (summer 2024)

Members of the Medicaid Task Force in the Washington State Auditor’s Office will conduct a multistate performance audit of the federal Medicaid program. Partner organizations include the Office of Inspector General in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and audit teams from Oregon, Ohio and Kentucky. Working together, auditors will identify Medicaid beneficiaries who are inappropriately enrolled in managed care in more than one state at the same time. This audit could help Washington’s Medicaid program strengthen its processes to avoid paying managed care organizations for beneficiaries living in other states. Read the one-page summary. (PDF)

Higher Education

Dual Credit Programs in Washington (summer 2024)

Participation in dual credit programs allows students to earn high school and college credit simultaneously. Benefits of these programs include giving high school students early exposure to college coursework and reducing the cost of their college education. However, each two- and four-year college and university establishes its own policies and procedures determining how credits earned in a high school dual-credit program are transferred and accepted. Depending on the college that students eventually apply to, they may or may not gain full credit of the dual courses they took in high school. This audit will assess eight institutions of higher education to learn the extent to which they accept dual credits earned in two of Washington’s large dual credit programs: Running Start and College in the High School. Read the one-page summary (PDF).

Information Technology

Safe Data Disposal in Higher Education (tentative)

Washington has 39 publicly funded institutions of higher education: two research and four comprehensive universities, and 33 community and technical colleges. Many of them have their own surplus programs, to help the schools reuse, repurpose and recycle as many items as possible, including IT equipment. Staff must first ensure that any surplus equipment that can store or process data has had that data completely erased. This audit will assess effectiveness of one school's practices to ensure discarded IT equipment has been properly prepared for disposal. It will include evaluating whether the school has adequate controls in place to ensure that surplused state-owned IT devices do not contain confidential data.

Opportunities to Improve IT Security at Critical Infrastructure Organizations (2024-2025)

The federal government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has advised state and local governments to be on the alert for cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure across America. The warnings urgently recommended that state and local governments improve cybersecurity defenses around infrastructure such as airports, dams, power stations and hospitals. In response to these threats, the State Auditor’s Office has begun a new series of cybersecurity performance audits for governments with critical infrastructure in Washington. These audits are not intended to provide a comprehensive assessment of a government’s security posture, but are instead narrowly scoped, looking for opportunities to improve those governments’ security against external threats. Read the one-page summary (PDF).

Opportunities to Improve IT Security at State Agencies and Local Governments (2024-2025)

People depend on Washington's state and local governments for many different services – such as public safety, tax collection, social services, and transportation systems. Governments depend on technology to provide these services. The security of these systems and related data are vital to public confidence, the continuity of government operations, and the safety and well-being of the state and its residents. Our cybersecurity audits examine IT systems used in government operations. They look for weaknesses in that technology and propose solutions to help strengthen those systems. Cybersecurity audits are a type of performance audit and are provided at no cost to state and local governments, thanks to 2005's voter-approved Initiative 900.  Read the one-page summary (PDF).

Improving Ransomware Resiliency at Local Governments (2024-2025)

Ransomware is a type of software designed to deny access to a computer system or the data it stores until the victim pays the demanded ransom. As attackers
continue to hone their tactics, local governments expected to keep systems secure and available struggle to keep pace.To help local governments prevent and respond to this increasing risk, the State Auditor’s Office off ers performance audits that specifically examine a government’s resiliency to ransomware. We examine five control areas that apply to distinct facets of ransomware prevention, detection and response. These audits can benefit governments large enough to employ cybersecurity staff as well as smaller governments that use contracted IT services. Read the one-page summary (PDF).

K-12 Education

Issues in Special Education (tentative) 

In 2024, the Washington State Legislature passed a bill intended to address funding for educational services for students with disabilities. One section of the new law requires the State Auditor’s Office to compare the prevalence of disabilities in student populations to the funding available to evaluate students and provide them with special education services. It also directs the State Auditor to determine whether any populations are underevaluated or underserved. The audit’s findings could help the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction determine budget requests to help support special education programs across the state.

Public Safety

Fines Used to Deter Human Trafficking and Support Survivors (spring 2025)

Washington state law imposes mandatory fines (called “fees” in statute) on those who commit human trafficking and related sexual exploitation crimes, such as commercial sexual abuse of a minor. While courts must assess and collect fines, some reports suggest this may not be occurring as required by law. Resulting revenues are then to be distributed to cities and counties, which must use these funds for prevention, enforcement and survivors’ services. However, it is not always clear how revenues are being used and whether the money is spent appropriately. This audit will examine whether fines for human trafficking and sexual exploitation crimes are being assessed, collected and used according to state law in a selection of local jurisdictions. If fines are not being assessed or used as required, the audit will make recommendations that could increase the amount of funding that is directed to addressing these crimes and supporting survivors. Read the one-page summary. (PDF)

Sexual Assault Kits: Following up on Washington State Patrol's testing backlog (fall 2024)

Forensic evidence collected after a sexual assault can be crucial to help resolve crimes and ensure justice is served. When sexual assault kits go untested, DNA results cannot be connected to other cases and offenders may commit more crimes. Our 2022 performance found that the State Patrol, which is responsible for testing all sexual assault kits statewide, had taken important steps to eliminate the kit-testing backlogs. However, only 74 percent of all kits had been tested as required. This audit will follow up on the previous audit’s findings and determine whether the State Patrol has eliminated the backlog of untested sexual assault kits. Read the one-page summary. (PDF)

Transportation

No topics currently in the 2023-25 workplan.