Awards and Recognition
The Knighton Award is the highest honor given by the Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA) and recognizes the best performance audit reports issued by its 300 local government audit organization members. Audits are evaluated for several criteria, including the potential for significant impact, recommendations on effective and efficient government, and clarity of communication style.
Distinguished Knighton Award for Construction and Demolition Recycling Program Performance Audit, 2024
“The audit highlighted key opportunities for improvement. It stood out as a well-written, well-structured report that was easy to follow and effectively presented. The graphics and illustrations were clear and well placed, enhancing readability and understanding of key findings. The recommendations were linked directly to the findings, creating a cohesive and actionable audit report, and the ranking of recommendations in relation to the audit findings was outstanding.”
Exemplary Knighton Award for Library Services Performance Audit, 2021
“This audit assessed the equity and effectiveness of the library system. Not only was it responsive to the needs and concerns of the public, but its focus was also on an impactful topic: equity. The use of benchmarking and a variety of focus groups made this audit’s scope and significant impact clear. The report started with a summary page quickly distilling high-level information to a reader and the graphics used throughout the report all added value. The maps overlaid with various demographic data as well as library locations were especially persuasive. The findings were clearly stated, well supported, and logically led to the conclusion: “The Library needs to improve its services to equitably meet diverse community needs.” Management agreed to all 27 recommendations, many of which were creative ways to address the issues. A Recommendation Action Plan summarized them in a helpful matrix at the end of the report and included target implementation dates. This was an exemplary report.”
Distinguished Knighton Award for Construction and Demolition Recycling Program Performance Audit, 2024
“This audit assessed the controls over the accuracy and security of police property and evidence. The auditors clearly linked their findings, recommendations, and conclusion. The report was easy to read and flowed well. Recommendations were specific, reasonable, and addressed the underlying findings. Charts and call-outs were used throughout the report to easily and efficiently convey information to the reader. The report started with an Executive Summary and a separate Highlights page that excelled at summarizing the content of the full report. The Highlights page in particular used a graphic that was very effective at linking the underlying conditions/causes with key findings and recommendations. Given this audit’s scope and the recommendations, this audit was impactful. All but one of the 27 recommendations were agreed to, and the auditors included a helpful matrix to track recommendations, and management’s response to each, at the end of the report.”
Distinguished Knighton Award for Animal Care Services Audit, 2018
“The Long Beach City Auditor conducted a performance audit of the City’s Animal Care Services (ACS) to provide management with a ‘point in time’ assessment of their current service levels and on-going ability to effectively and efficiently fulfill their responsibilities for providing for the care and re-homing of almost 8,000 animals boarded in their shelter every year. The auditors supported their findings and recommendations with relevant and compelling evidence by citing industry standards, benchmarks, results of their peer municipal shelters survey, as well as direct filed observations and a “climate” survey of ACS employees. The auditors identified 11 critical issues that ACS needed to address in order to meet the industry’s minimum care requirements and improve their revenue collection process. The report was easy to read, followed a logical flow of issues, and incorporated a useful highlight sheet, call-out boxes, charts, descriptive headers, and graphics that greatly facilitated a quick read and absorption of the key points of the report.”
Other Awards
Excellence in Public Information and Communications Award, 2019
To emphasize the importance of alleged City fraud, waste and abuse tips and improve understanding of the City Auditor’s Fraud Hotline operations, the Office implemented an internal educational campaign which was recognized with the Excellence in Public Information and Communications (EPIC) Award by the California Association of Public Information Officials (CAPIO).
Steward of the Second District, 2014
The Office was recognized as a “Steward of the Second District” for work going beyond the call of duty to make a difference in the lives of others.