Current Audit Schedule

January 24, 2023

Dear Multnomah County community members,

I am pleased to provide you with my office’s audit schedule for calendar year 2023. If you would like to share information with us related to our upcoming audits, please contact me.

My office will post this schedule on the County Auditor website and social media. I invite you to reach out to me at any time with questions or concerns about this schedule or any other County-related matters.

Thank you,

Jennifer McGuirk, MPA, CIA
Multnomah County Auditor

Cc:

Jessica Vega Pederson, County Chair
Sharon Meieran, Commissioner District 1
Susheela Jayapal, Commissioner District 2
Diane Rosenbaum, Commissioner District 3
Lori Stegmann, Commissioner District 4
Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell, County Sheriff
Mike Schmidt, District Attorney

Calendar Year 2023 Audit Schedule

In process

Audits

• County budget process

• Library work environment

• Joint Office of Homeless Services' information systems

Special studies

• County ethical culture survey

To be started

Audits & initial concepts

Note: During the initial phase of an audit, concepts/scopes of focus are subject to change as audit teams learn about issue areas.

• Countywide equity audit: Assess the status of work to implement the county’s Workforce Equity Strategic Plan. We anticipate examining different departments’ policies, programs, and practices that impact staff and communities. Potential focus areas include equity lens and equity policy implementation, as well as hiring, reclassifications, promotions, pay equity, workload, and work place safety for employees who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color.   

• Department of Community Justice – parole and probation sanctions resulting in jail time: A significant percentage of the jail population on any given day is made up of people in custody for violating some condition of their probation or parole. Adults in custody who identify as Indigenous are particularly impacted, as they are most likely to be held in custody due to a parole or probation violation without other charges. We envision the audit will include describing work the DCJ has done to reduce the use of sanctions, as well as COVID-19 impacts on sanction use.

• Contract monitoring audit: Assess the extent to which contracts are monitored. Through prior audits and investigations, we have identified this as an area needing further examination.

• Financial condition 2024: This is a recurring audit we conduct every two years to assess the county’s financial health. The audit will cover at least a 10-year period.

• Future of Work initiative: Due to necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic, the county started working differently to meet its mission to serve the people of Multnomah County. We plan to evaluate how the county decides which employees are eligible for telework, equity impacts related to telework, county facility usage, and the extent to which the county is aligned with emerging best practices for hybrid workplaces.

• Department of County Human Services’ Preschool For All Division: This audit will likely assess the launch of this new division, including capturing successes and lessons learned, examining performance measures, as well as describing capacity issues impacting this new division. 

Special studies

• History of the Auditor’s Office: This special report will tell the office’s history and the role it has played in Multnomah County, including a critical look at the ways in which the office may have upheld racism in Multnomah County government. We envision an important critical assessment of our office so we can improve our work moving forward.

Recommendation Status Evaluations

We will evaluate the status of recommendations from the following audits:

• Animal Services: Important issues still need to be resolved

• Contact Tracing: Contact tracing team did not keep up with the high numbers of cases. Isolation support services could be hard to access.

• Multnomah County Jail Conditions: Circumstances were Worse for Adults in Custody who are Black and/or Have Mental Health Conditions

To be started

• Peer review of Auditor’s Office: This is scheduled for April. A two- or three-person team of government auditors from other jurisdictions will assess the office. The Association of Local Government Auditors selects the review team, and the Auditor’s Office is required to cover the team’s travel fees.