FHWA Resource Center
RC Success Stories
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1
Your Link To Successful Solutions For Today's Transportation
MAY, 2002
FINANCE COMMUNITY ACHIEVES SUCCESS
Continuity For A Uniform Guide For State Auditors
There was need for a change. No single system existed to provide auditing and accounting for consultants in the highway construction business. Something needed to be done and the time was too far past.
It all started in 1996, when John Jeffers -- Finance Team Leader, Ms.Amy J. Stancil, CPA (formerly Georgia DOT, Manager, Office of Audits), Mr. Todd Jones, North Carolina DOT, Manager, Consultant Audit Unit and Mr. John Greene, Florida DOT, Office of Inspector General, Supervisor, Contract Audit Branch, got together to put together a Audit & Accounting Guide. Without knowing that what it would turn into, they began the groundwork for the guide, which sets the standards today. There was a need for a guide to provide consistency. The initial ideal was to create a tool that would support the Southern regional area for the auditing of engineering consultants. There were too many different standards/methods that caused conflicts-which created delays and inconsistencies.
Their goal was to simplify the process for state auditors.
At a consultant audit issues workshop in Charlotte, North Carolina, John Jeffers was asked to form and lead a Financial Management Improvement Program team to develop a guide. In 1998 the first guide was issued and was widely accepted by nearly all of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast States. Prior to the guide, a few states had written procedures but it was generally state specific. After the success of the Southern Resource Center (SRC) audit guide, another region of the country developed a similar publication.
The purpose of the Guide is to provide a tool that can be used by individual state auditors, private accounting firms and consulting firms in the performance of audits of engineering companies. The Guide is now available on the AASHTO web site This is the only Audit publication that is available through AASHTO
Having multiple audit guides was not the solution to the inconsistencies that existed. In order to ensure that they were on the right track, and after reviewing other regional guides, they saw the need for a more uniform audit guide. Recognizing that a national uniform audit guide would be more effective than regional publications, John Jeffers sponsored and facilitated a national audit leaders meeting to develop a uniform guide for engineering consultant auditing. At the meeting, an agreement was made to build on the present guides and produce a national publication. After additional meetings, and with the assistance of other contributors and Jerry Koerner's editing support, a draft uniform guide was produced. The group believed the proposed guide that would work for all States. Their guide was placed on the SRC web site for national exposure and usage. This captured the attention of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) leadership through the driving force of David Campbell, Chairman of Administrative Subcommittee on Internal and External Audit.
At an annual AASHTO Audit conference, the guide was approved by the members and made available in a pilot stage. Subsequently, the Guide has been approved by AASHTO at the organization's 2001 annual meeting and has been endorsed by the American Council of Engineering Companies. The Guide was officially placed on AASHTO's website February of this year.
This was a great interagency and state effort that was innovative and focused on the needs of state auditors. Other key contributors were: Washington State DOT and Florida DOT, Florida DOT, Office of Inspector General for the use of their Audit Guide, and the General Services Administration for the use of their Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Also, the WAASHTO, the Midwestern States, the Northeast States, the Southeast States and all others who have provided comments and/or guidance in producing this successful Guide.
For more information, please contact: John P. Jeffers, Lead Financial Specialist, FHWA Liaison to the AASHTO Audit Subcommittee Finance Team - Resource Center.
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