Glendale committee hears audit benchmarking as residents urge independent audit commission

The Glendale Charter Review Committee on May 7 received an extensive briefing on the city's internal audit operations and benchmarking results and heard public commenters urge stronger, charter-protected audit oversight.

Principal internal auditor Natalie Manami Valdivia told the committee that Glendale's internal audit division is authorized for three full-time equivalents but is operating with one filled position and two vacancies, and that the team completed 37 audits over the past 24 months (mostly shorter "continuous" analytics audits). She described the audit program's risk-based annual process, how director "picks" and a risk scoring matrix inform the work plan, and how the audit committee and city manager review and approve the final plan. "Internal audit evaluates whether operations, controls and compliance are working well across all city departments," Valdivia said, describing sample findings from a Fire Prevention/Environmental Management Center audit that identified unbilled inspections, reconciliation gaps and about $100,000 in aged receivables.

Why it matters: committee members and members of…