Episode 41 - Harriet Richardson: Part 2

Episode 41 - Harriet Richardson: Part 2

Harriet Richardson returns for a second episode, and this time she pulls back the curtain on how great audits get built. She walks through the frameworks she relies on most, the logic model, Bloom's Taxonomy, and the elements of a finding, and shares how mastering these tools turns even the messiest, most sprawling audit into something decision-makers can actually use.Harriet takes us inside a real-world case where a chaotic, multi-topic audit was rescued, reorganized, and split into three focused projects, all because she could see the structure hiding inside the noise. She also tackles one of the hottest topics in auditing right now: the difference between outputs and outcomes, and why measuring the wrong one can make an ineffective program look like a roaring success. From a contract that helped exactly one person to auditors going into the field without the frameworks to back them up, Harriet connects the dots between structure, fieldwork, and real impact. If you want to think like a legend, this is the episode to study. CHAPTERS: 00:00 — Intro 00:53 — Harriet's origin story: rescuing a runaway audit 03:47 — How editing hundreds of audit reports sharpens your instincts 06:14 — Why financial auditors struggle with cause 09:01 — Training auditors to think like performance auditors 12:33 — Efficiency audits and a national trend 15:06 — Outputs vs. outcomes: the BART homeless services example 19:35 — Bloom's Taxonomy and critical thinking in auditing 22:57 — Advice for new auditors ABOUT HARRIET RICHARDSON Harriet Richardson is a respected expert in government auditing standards with a career spanning over three decades as a performance auditor, a Yellow Book advisor, and an instructor. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a Master of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in financial management. She is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor, and Certified Government Audit Professional. For more than three decades, she served as a performance auditor at the federal, state, and local levels of government. In addition to an appointment by California Governor Gavin Newsom as the first Inspector General for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system (also known as BART), Harriet served in other key roles including City Auditor for the City of Palo Alto (California), Audit Manager for the City of Berkeley (California), Deputy State Auditor for the Washington State Auditor’s Office, Audit Director for the City and County of San Francisco (California), and Deputy City Auditor for the City of Atlanta’s Auditor’s Office (Georgia). Harriet’s accomplishments include serving for five years on the board of the Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA), including a term as president and as chair of the ALGA’s Professional Issues Committee. She was ALGA’s representative on the Comptroller’s General’s Government Auditing Standards Advisory Council (2016-2021), which advises the U.S. Government Accountability Office on the Yellow Book. She currently sits on The Institute of Internal Auditors’ International Internal Audit Standards Board and the Government Accounting Standards Advisory Council, and is chair of her city’s Planning Commission. She was recognized for her professional achievements when she received ALGA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Association of Government Accountant’s Excellence in Government Leadership Award (2017), and the David M. Walker Excellence in Government Performance and Accountability Award (2018).

Episode 40 - Harriet Richardson: Part 1

In this episode, performance audit veteran Harriet Richardson shares how she built a performance audit program from the ground up after voters passed a statewide ballot initiative. She walks us through her all-time favorite audit into the state's delayed-release Chinook salmon program, where a decades-old legislative goal of releasing 3 million hatchery fish per year had quietly become a costly, ineffective policy nobody wanted to challenge. Through sharp structural thinking, a reorganized team, and a key insight surfaced by an intern's spreadsheet, the audit ultimately led the legislature to scrap the arbitrary numerical goal in favor of evidence-based best practices. She also touches on a companion Dungeness crab audit and the very controlled world of recreational fishing in Puget Sound. CHAPTERS: 00:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnPiuhZNjYs] — Introduction 00:52 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnPiuhZNjYs&t=52s] — Meet Harriet Richardson 03:59 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnPiuhZNjYs&t=239s] — Inheriting a troubled contract audit 06:53 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnPiuhZNjYs&t=413s] — The delayed-release Chinook salmon program 11:12 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnPiuhZNjYs&t=672s] — The intern's spreadsheet that cracked the case 12:53 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnPiuhZNjYs&t=773s] — Shifting the focus to quality over quantity 13:55 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnPiuhZNjYs&t=835s] — The Hatchery Scientific Review Group's recommendations 15:21 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnPiuhZNjYs&t=921s] — Good data, unused: the second finding 16:24 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnPiuhZNjYs&t=984s] — The legislature responds & rewrites the law 17:33 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnPiuhZNjYs&t=1053s] — Sidebar: the Dungeness crab audit 20:26 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnPiuhZNjYs&t=1226s] — What's polluting Puget Sound 21:38 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnPiuhZNjYs&t=1298s] — Why this remains Harriet's favorite audit ABOUT HARRIET RICHARDSON: Harriet Richardson is a respected expert in government auditing standards with a career spanning over three decades as a performance auditor, a Yellow Book advisor, and an instructor on government auditing standards. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a Master of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in financial management. She is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor, and Certified Government Audit Professional. For more than three decades, she served as a performance auditor at the federal, state, and local levels of government. In addition to being appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom to be the first Inspector General for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system (also known as BART), other key roles she served in were City Auditor for the City of Palo Alto (California), Audit Manager for the City of Berkeley (California), Deputy State Auditor for the Washington State Auditor’s Office, Audit Director for the City and County of San Francisco (California), and Deputy City Auditor for the City of Atlanta’s Auditor’s Office (Georgia). Her accomplishments include serving for five years on the board of the Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA), including a term as president and as chair of the ALGA’s Professional Issues Committee, and being ALGA’s representative on the Comptroller’s General’s Government Auditing Standards Advisory Council (2016-2021), which advises the U.S. Government Accountability Office on the Yellow Book. She currently sits on The Institute of Internal Auditors’ International Internal Audit Standards Board and the Government Accounting Standards Advisory Council, and is chair of her city’s Planning Commission. She was recognized for her professional achievements when she received ALGA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Association of Government Accountant’s Excellence in Government Leadership Award (2017), and the David M. Walker Excellence in Government Performance and Accountability Award (2018).

Episode 39 - Jennifer McGuirk

What happens when your government just... doesn't pick up the phone? In this episode, Leita Hart-Fanta sits down with Jennifer McGuirk, elected county auditor for Multnomah County, Oregon, to talk about two audits that hit close to home for anyone who's ever battled a phone tree or wondered whether their vote is being counted correctly. Jennifer walks us through a creative, citizen-centered customer service audit that had her team posing as ordinary residents, armed with untraceable cell phones and anonymous email accounts, to test whether county departments were actually showing up for the public they serve. The results were eye-opening: 80% responsiveness sounds decent until you remember that government should be answering all the time, not most of the time. Jennifer then turns to an even higher-stakes subject: elections. With Multnomah County preparing to roll out ranked choice voting county-wide after piloting it for the City of Portland, Jennifer's office took a hard look at election integrity, ballot errors rooted in GIS data issues, and the very real human cost of staffing an elections office in an era of vandalism and political hostility. Despite the challenges, the audit delivered something rare and valuable, genuine public assurance that the voting process is sound, while surfacing practical recommendations around voter education and internal GIS expertise that local officials are already moving to act on. CHAPTERS: 00:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P69yIcmc9yE]: Introduction: Meet Super Auditor Jennifer 02:33 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P69yIcmc9yE&t=153s]: The Customer Service Audit: Origins and Methodology 05:01 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P69yIcmc9yE&t=301s]: Results: What 171 Phone Calls and 79 Emails Revealed 07:15 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P69yIcmc9yE&t=435s]: Did the Audit Dig Into Why Phones Went Unanswered? 09:17 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P69yIcmc9yE&t=557s]: Recommendations 13:10 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P69yIcmc9yE&t=790s]: Other Citizen-Experience Audits 14:28 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P69yIcmc9yE&t=868s]: The Elections Audit 17:16 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P69yIcmc9yE&t=1036s]: Findings 19:36 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P69yIcmc9yE&t=1176s]: The Human Side: Volunteers, Threats, and the Cost of Public Service 21:42 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P69yIcmc9yE&t=1302s]: Personal Safety as an Elected Auditor 24:15 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P69yIcmc9yE&t=1455s]: Words of Wisdom for New Auditors ABOUT JENNIFER McGUIRK: Jennifer McGuirk, CIA, is serving her second four-year term as Multnomah County Auditor. In this role, Jennifer promotes an accountable and equitable county government. Her office includes four interconnected functions: performance audits; a fraud, waste, and abuse hotline; the county ombudsperson; and community engagement. During her tenure, she has overseen a variety of audits and investigations into county operations, while successfully advocating for County Charter amendments and Code changes to protect the independence of the Auditor’s Office. Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oregon and a master’s in public administration, emphasizing local government administration, from Portland State University.

Episode 38 - Dr. Clive S. Lennox

In a world where rules are written in ink and consequences are written in stone, there is a quiet but powerful force moving behind the curtain of compliance. Not in the audit file. Not in the fieldwork. But in the rules themselves. Meet Clive Lennox. Oxford-educated. Razor-minded. Calm as a ledger that actually balances on the first try. Clive stands at the gates of regulation, where the mighty edicts of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),  and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) are forged, and asks a dangerous question: “What if we tried it first?” Armed not with assumptions, but with evidence. Not with urgency, but with method. Clive brings the scientific method into a world that too often runs on precedent and pressure. Hypothesis. Test. Observe. Refine. Because in Clive’s world, regulations shouldn’t just sound good, they should work. Before a single rule reshapes the profession, Clive has already been there quietly proving whether it should. CHAPTERS: 03:30 Sarbanes-Oxley: a case study in rushed rulemaking 05:30 Why no pilot testing means no control group 08:56 Has the PCAOB ever done a real pilot? 10:45 Critical Audit Matters (CAMs): a near-accidental control group 15:20 How Dr. Lennox tries to influence legislators and regulators 17:15 What the CAM research actually found 23:05 Non-audit services: does restricting them improve audit quality? 28:00 Auditor independence in the gray zone 30:20 Horror story: how internal control reporting requirements backfired 33:50 How can listeners help Dr. Lennox's mission? 36:50 Connecting with state-level policy organizations 43:00 US audit quality vs. the world: how do we stack up 45:30 Closing thoughts and wrap-up ABOUT DR. CLIVE S. LENNOX Clive Lennox joined the Leventhal School of Accounting in 2015. His research interests include auditing, voluntary disclosure, corporate fraud, and empirical research methods. He has published more than 35 articles in the top-tier accounting journals (Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, and the Review of Accounting Studies). His research and teaching received numerous prizes, including the Notable Contribution to the Auditing Literature Award from the American Accounting Association. Clive is an associate editor at the Journal of Accounting Research and the Journal of Accounting and Economics. He is also a former editor at The Accounting Review and Contemporary Accounting Research.

Episode 37 - Ross Visscher: Part 2

In a previous episode, you heard how Ross Visscher harnesses AI to transform his internal audits in a thriving Canadian city. But power in the hands of one City team is only the beginning! Because beyond the internal audit shop, an entire city is stepping into the world of artificial intelligence. Departments experimenting. Risks emerging. Opportunities everywhere. And someone must bring order to it all. Enter Ross. Not just an auditor, but a guide helping a whole city navigate AI with clarity, control, and caution. Because when everyone has access to powerful tools, governance isn’t optional. It’s everything. Discover how a city’s audit team is leading the way in AI governance and innovation. This episode explores practical strategies for managing AI risks, setting guardrails, and leveraging AI to improve city services, all while ensuring responsible use. CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Introduction to AI in city governance and internal audits 01:19 - Ross’s role as a guide for citywide AI usage and compliance 01:58 - The importance of prompting: quick wins and frameworks 04:36 - Managing AI model costs with tiered approaches 05:29 - Building citywide AI governance and working with leadership 08:10 - Creating inventory and risk classification for AI systems 11:21 - Roles and responsibilities in AI audits across city departments 13:03 - Challenges of chatbot prompt injection and strategies for safeguard 16:01 - Bridging skills: from BASIC to Python, and the power of logic 17:01 - Closing remarks: CPE and community sharing in auditing ABOUT ROSS VISSCHER: Ross Visscher is an internal audit leader with responsibility for IT audit and data analytics programs at The City of Calgary. He has 19 years of internal audit experience, primarily within local government, complemented by earlier experience in financial services and public accounting. For more than a decade, Ross has been actively involved with the Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA) and served as President for the 2024–2025 term. He holds multiple professional certifications, including Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA – North Carolina), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC). His specialized credentials include ISACA’s Advanced in AI Audit (AAIA), ACL Analytics Certified Data Analyst (ACDA) and Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Associate.