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City auditor reports 72 recommendations, $10.8M in financial exceptions in FY25
Summary
City Auditor Riyadh Ali told the committee the Office of the City Auditor issued 72 recommendations in FY25, achieved 59 recommendation closures, reported $10.8 million in financial exceptions and referred roughly $6 million to the Office of the Inspector General.
Riyadh Ali, Richmond’s city auditor, presented the Office of the City Auditor’s (OCA) annual update to the Governmental Operations Committee, explaining the office’s authority under city code and summarizing fiscal year 2025 audit activity.
“We made 72 different recommendations to the city,” Ali said, noting departments agreed to implement 68 of them and partially agreed to four. He told the committee the office issued 11 reports in FY25 (six audit reports, four recommendation follow-up reports and one special project) and closed 59 recommendations during the year.
Ali said the office identified approximately $10,800,000 in financial exceptions during FY25 and referred about $6,000,000 of that to the Office of the Inspector General for further investigation. He credited the peer review by the Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA), which his office passed with no findings, and he said the OCA follows Government Auditing Standards (the Yellow Book).
Key audits and findings Ali highlighted included warehouse audits at the Department of Public Utilities (13 and 18 recommendations respectively), a streetlight maintenance contract audit that identified roughly $1.2 million in overbilling (the city ended the contract with that vendor), a non-departmental application and oversight audit and a P-card audit that generated 16 recommendations and prompted a larger P-card program overhaul. Ali said the city reported recovering about $228,000 in FY25 from prior audits.
Committee members asked how audit findings translate to concrete budget savings. Ali said recoveries and process improvements are the clearest measures and that some savings are difficult to quantify in advance; he said auditors test remediation and require evidence before closing recommendations.
On staffing, Ali said the OCA had two senior auditor vacancies and a manager vacancy and that the office hires for certified skills (CPAs, CIAs, CFE, CISA). He said the office is updating its audit manual to reflect new standards, expanding staff training in advanced data analytics and working with administration on a dashboard to track open recommendations.
Why it matters: the auditor’s findings and recommendations are oversight inputs that can lead to recoveries, process changes and improved internal controls. Department leaders in subsequent discussions said they are implementing many of the auditor’s recommendations and that follow-up evidence is being provided.
Ending: Ali offered to provide additional detail on planned FY26 audits and said the OCA will continue to prioritize follow-up work to close outstanding recommendations.
