Who audits the auditor? They do!

Government auditing standards require our office to get a “peer review” every three years. For our 2016 peer review, a team of auditors from eight other states and a federal agency came to Olympia the week of September 12^th to review our audit policies and manuals and a cross-section of audit reports and working papers.

The review team gave us a clean opinion, the highest rating possible. They concluded we have a well-designed system of quality control, are following our audit policies, and are complying with audit standards. We conduct so many different types of audits across so many audit teams that it takes a concerted effort by everyone involved to maintain such a high standard of quality.

As an added bonus, peer reviews also provide insights on how to improve our audit documentation and an opportunity for our Office, as a whole, to take this valuable feedback and use it for future audits.

Pictured here are the auditors NSAA has selected to conduct this review, from left to right: Matt Richards, Alabama Office of Examiner of Public Accounts; Amanda Bibby, Georgia Department of Audits ; Lynette Baker, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Allison Bader, North Dakota Office of the State Auditor; Vince Finamore, Tennessee Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury; Jennifer Fujimoto, California Office of the State Comptroller; Tim Downing, Ohio Office of the Auditor of State; Mark Ruether, Missouri Office of the State Auditor

Not pictured – Steve Pease, Maryland Office of Legislative Audits