Introduction More

Office of Internal Audit

The Office of Internal Audit is responsible for conducting independent audits and reviews to confirm that:

1. Events, transactions, adjustments, and processing procedures are established, authorized and maintained in accordance with laws, regulations, contracts and management’s policy;
2. Transactions are accounted for economically, efficiently processed, accurately and promptly recorded, and properly reported;
3. Recorded balances are periodically substantiated and evaluated; and
4. City assets and key forms, records, and files are properly safeguarded, and access thereto appropriately restricted.

In addition, the Office of Internal Audit is responsible for conducting audits of businesses responsible for remitting resort taxes and Sanitation franchise/roll-off fees to the City. These revenue based audits determine compliance with the applicable City Ordinances and may result in monetary assessments including penalties and interest.

Internal Audits

Various areas within the City subject to audit have been identified which are periodically updated as needed.  Audits are scheduled for those areas based on a risk assessment approach.  Audits are classified as high, medium or low risk based on six distinct separately weighted criteria.  Higher assigned risk areas are subject to more frequent audits while lower risk areas are typically audited less frequently.  In addition, there are several annually required audits that are mandated by the City Code and State Agreements.

All this data is compiled to create an audit plan listing the audits to be completed during the fiscal year based on staff size and the number of budgeted hours.  The audit plan is reviewed and approved by the City Administration.  However, unplanned projects may impact the audit plan in any given year.

Lastly, the City utilizes a seven member Audit Committee for the oversight of the Internal Audit function.  Meetings are typically held quarterly.

Resort Tax Audits

Scheduled revenue audits are based upon the type of business, actual resort tax receipts received and the frequency of the last audit.  Our goal is to audit monthly filing businesses consisting of hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and bars at least once every five years and less riskier businesses such as apartments that file annually on a less frequent basis.  New monthly accounts are targeted to be audited within eighteen months of opening to help ensure compliance.

Sanitation Franchise Fee/Roll-off Audits

Each of the waste removal and roll-off companies that have valid Business Tax Receipts (BTR) are to remit monthly fees to the City which equals a designated percentage of collections as determined by City Ordinance.  Our Sanitation Tax Auditor conducts unannounced site visits to help ensure that the applicable companies have obtained the required roll-off permits and that their business tax receipts are current.