The city of Palo Alto is looking to hire an independent contractor as city auditor to save money and bring consistency to the city.
The city is interviewing four auditing firms to replace the city’s last auditor, Harriet Richardson, who left in February 2019 with the staff in the auditor’s office. The council is set to award the $750,000-a-year contract to one of the firms in mid-August.
“(We’re) really looking to understand which would be the best fit for Palo Alto. Some of the main things we’d like to hear about are their ideas on how their strengths align with our needs, discuss how they’ll manage the need to maintain independence, and their thoughts and experiences for us moving from an internal model to using an outside agency,” Filseth, a CAO Committee member, said in an email, according to an article by Palo Alto Online.
The city council found that its internal audit division cost more than similar divisions in other cities, and with the high turnover rate in the office, the council decided to look to outside firms to serve the role. The contract will save the office $250,000 a year, with the previous budget being $1 million. The independent firm will appoint a staff member as the internal chief auditor for the city of Palo Alto, and other staff members will conduct the audit. The firm will be hired as an independent contractor, according to a city memordanum.
The city wants the auditor to conduct annual risk assessments with a focus on efficient allocating the city’s resources. With the added circumstance of COVID-19, the city also wants the auditor to consider the impacts of the pandemic and how it might affect the costs and working environment to the auditors. 
Stephanie Liu is assistant editor of Internal Audit 360°