The Denver Auditor’s Office Is a Leader in Data Analytics in Local Government Auditing, with Room to Grow
The Denver Auditor’s Office is generally among the leaders in using audit analytics when compared to our peer organizations in local government auditing, and our analytical techniques are often ahead of the curve of the methods described in recent academic and professional literature.
Specifically, we excel in:
- Having dedicated audit analytics resources, both in staff expertise and technology.
- Continuous auditing — including using analytics to find outliers or conditions that could indicate a process or system is not working as it should (i.e., risk assessments and control tests).
- Using statistics and methods to fine-tune how sensitive our analytics are in identifying risks within a dataset, with the goal of reducing the number of false-positive results.
- Applying analytics and continuous auditing for general risk assessment and annual planning.
- Applying analytics to specific audits and using analytics to identify the cause of an issue.
- Reporting analytical results in myriad ways — such as through original audits and follow-up audits, summary reports to city agencies and the public, and detailed audit work papers.
In particular, our survey of local government audit organizations and our review of relevant professional literature bolstered our understanding of the importance of having an audit analytics program in the Denver Auditor’s Office.
We found that audit organizations that have dedicated resources, like ours, are more likely to use analytics on a regular basis and they are more likely to apply the types of techniques recommended in professional literature.
We also learned of areas where the Denver Auditor’s Office can expand our analytics and learn from our peers in local government auditing and academia.