Risk Assessment
To effectively prepare an audit plan, we need to identify which activities are the most important and detect areas that pose potential risk to the city. To provide the most benefit, our audits need to be targeted and relevant. We conduct risk assessments both to compare departments and offices based on their potential risk and to better serve the city with our audits. We score and weigh the departments and offices based on predetermined categories
We use the following categories in our assessments:
The risk assessment spreadsheet sorts the departments based on their total risk scores. The total risk score is the sum of the weighted individual risk scores. The user can assign weights to the risk categories, with the total of all weights adding up to 100. To add weight to one category requires taking away weight from another category, so that the total weight still equals 100. After assigning weight to the categories, click “Reorder” to sort the departments by their risk scores.
We use the following categories in our assessments:
- Change: The level of growth or decline a department experienced in the previous two fiscal years.
- Ethics: Potential for unethical behavior.
- Public Perception: Interactions that an office had with the public.
- Planning & Performance: How efficiently an office budgeted resources.
- Safety & Liability: Safety and legal liabilities related to an office’s normal activities.
- Size & Complexity: The amount of resources a department or organization has, and the diversity of services that it performs.
The risk assessment spreadsheet sorts the departments based on their total risk scores. The total risk score is the sum of the weighted individual risk scores. The user can assign weights to the risk categories, with the total of all weights adding up to 100. To add weight to one category requires taking away weight from another category, so that the total weight still equals 100. After assigning weight to the categories, click “Reorder” to sort the departments by their risk scores.
