After only one year at this new job, the internal auditor for the scandal ridden Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority quit. The "X-Way" as it is called was the subject of a series of expose articles by the Orlando Sentinel in 2006 and after, so they established the internal audit position.
The Authority owns and manages about 100 miles of toll roads in the Orlando area. The roads and other assets were values at $829-million in 2008, and Toll Revenue was about $206-million, plus other income for a total of $246-million in 2008 (mostly road tolls). Today's paper also had an article saying that usage of the roads are down and they might increase tolls to make up the difference.
The article about the resignation is below, however, the statement from the quitting auditor that the authority management "has created and perpetuated a weak control environment" is a big one. That's about how I feel about the Lake County Commission and County Manager. Professional auditors will refer to this problem as "tone at the top". If senior managers don't support oversight and business control improvement, that is where the problem lies.
Control oriented management will want control problems to be discussed and resolved openly, but when the management is secretive, delays audit work, audit reports, audit cooperation or meaningful audit responses, then you know they don't really care for oversight. A good auditor will bail out in such situations, or if they stick there too long trying to turn things around, they could be burned by management or by association with them when a crisis erupts. (Happened to me at two different firms).
The Authority corporate website is HERE.
One amazing thing is that their annual financial report, called the "CAFR" (all Florida government agencies issue an annual CAFR or Consolidated Annual Financial Report) was published in November, or only FOUR months after the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008. That is way TOO LONG for business, which usually issue their audited financials within 30 days, but much better than the Lake County School District of 6 months, and the Lake County CAFR which I think took the full 9 months allowed by statutes.
Read the article below...
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