County Auditor, Michelle Bohlayer
Deputy County Auditor, Terry Gibson
The Office of the County Auditor's (OCA) duties are described in the Anne Arundel County Charter (Section 311) and include auditing, or retaining an independent certified public accounting firm to audit the County’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. Additionally, the OCA conducts attestation engagements and performance audits under Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards, including evaluations of internal controls, compliance with laws and regulations, and effectiveness and efficiencies of County operations. The OCA also reports to the County Council on the fiscal considerations of proposed legislation, including the County Executive's proposed operating and capital budgets. All reports issued by the OCA are available to the public.
Our Mission
Our mission is to serve the Anne Arundel County Council and citizens by providing independent, objective, and non-partisan audits and reviews of County government operations, programs, and legislation.
Frequently Asked Questions
OCA follows audit standards so our work is independent and free of bias. These standards inform how we hire and train staff. They include requirements for how we do our work and report results. We also have a formal quality control process that includes many levels of review. Periodically, other auditors audit our process to let us know what we are doing right and what we can do better.
Our auditors work with County management and others to understand the subject of the audit. We gather information to compare how County operations are working with how they should work. When there is a difference, we recommend ways to improve.
At the start of audit, the audit team will hold an entrance meeting with the department’s management to discuss the audit objectives and the audit approach, and to obtain certain information from department management.
Audits are generally conducted at the department’s offices. Departments are requested to provide the audit team with adequate facilities to conduct the audit on a day-to-day basis.
The length of the audit varies depending on the department’s complexity and size, the audit scope, and other OCA responsibilities (such as, reviews of proposed legislation, including the County Executive’s annual proposed operating and capital budgets).
The number of auditors assigned to an audit team varies depending on the audit. Generally, the audit team consists of an audit manager, a senior auditor, and one or more staff auditors. The senior auditor provides daily on-site supervision of staff auditors and reports to the audit manager who makes periodic visits to the audit site.
Audit teams, primarily through the senior auditor, periodically inform department management about the progress of the audit and are available to discuss the audit with department management at any time. It is helpful to have a department employee designated as a liaison between department management and the audit team to handle routine day-to-day communications.
Auditors conduct interviews of department personnel, examine department documents and records, and gather information to make conclusions regarding the audit objectives.
Preliminary audit findings and related recommendations are provided to department management at the end of the audit. Management is requested to respond to these preliminary audit findings in writing as to their accuracy and management’s estimated implementation of a corrective action plan. The audit team and department management hold an exit meeting to discuss the findings and responses prior to the audit team finalizing the public audit report which will include management’s written responses. We publish our report so that everyone can see the results of our work.
OCA has several legislative analysts who, among other things, complete fiscal analyses of proposed legislation, including review of the annual proposed budget bill.