PUBLIC HEARING
Joint Legislative Audit Committee
The committee held a public hearing on the following items at the time specified below:
Thursday, August 29, 2024
10:00 AM
411 South
State Capitol
Madison, Wisconsin
Proposed Audit: Fish and Wildlife Account, Department of Natural Resources
Proposed Audit: School District Financial Monitoring, Department of Public Instruction
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Joint Legislative Audit Committee
The committee held a public hearing on the following items at the time specified below:
Thursday, August 29, 2024
10:00 AM
411 South
State Capitol
Madison, Wisconsin
Proposed Audit: Fish and Wildlife Account, Department of Natural Resources
Proposed Audit: School District Financial Monitoring, Department of Public Instruction
PEER REVIEW
The Legislative Audit Bureau earned the highest rating possible from an external peer review conducted in August 2024. The independent peer review team, which included auditors from other states and the federal government, reviewed policies and procedures as well as the written documentation used to support selected financial audits issued from July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.
The peer review team concluded that the system of quality control had been suitably designed and complied with to provide reasonable assurance that financial audits conducted during the review period were performed and reported in accordance with Government Auditing Standards. This outcome is consistent with results earned by the Bureau in past external peer reviews, which are conducted every three years.
A copy of the 2024 external peer review report is available here.
AWARDS
2024 Excellence in Evaluation Award
The Legislative Audit Bureau is the recipient of the 2024 Excellence in Evaluation Award from the National Legislative Program Evaluation Society (NLPES).
NLPES is one of nine professional staff associations connected with the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). NLPES includes employees of state legislative agencies engaged in program evaluation or performance auditing. The purpose of NLPES is to advance the profession of nonpartisan legislative program evaluation and performance auditing and to provide staff with relevant training, opportunities for exchanging ideas and information, and recognition for superior performance.
The 2024 Excellence in Evaluation Award is presented to the audit organization determined to have made significant contributions to the field of legislative program evaluation and performance auditing during the four-year period beginning January 1, 2020, and ending December 31, 2023. The award is presented to only one recipient each year.
To earn this recognition, the Legislative Audit Bureau successfully demonstrated achievements in three specific areas: the significance of the performance evaluation work performed and how it has positively affected state operations and policies; the body of performance evaluation work performed and how it was produced; and the contributions made to further advance the field.
2024 Notable Documents Award
The Legislative Audit Bureau was selected by the Legislative Research Librarians Professional Staff Association of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) as a recipient of a 2024 Notable Documents Award. The Award, which was presented to the Bureau at the 2024 Legislative Summit in August 2024, was granted in the category of Labor and Employment for the Bureau’s publication of:
- Telework, Space Management, and Risk Management: Department of Administration (report 23-22); and
- Telework, Space Management, and Risk Management: University of Wisconsin System (report 23-23).
Typically, publications are nominated for Notable Document Awards by a state’s legislative librarian. In 2024, Wisconsin was one of 9 states with reports chosen for recognition by a nationwide committee of librarians that evaluates each document on specific criteria, including relevance, organization, clarity, effective use of graphics, innovation, balance, and expansion of the base of knowledge on a particular subject. The Committee commended the Bureau’s publications as “innovative in providing substantive information on contemporary issues of interest to legislatures.” The following statement was made about the Bureau’s publications at the award ceremony:
“This report focuses on the effects of telework on the future office space needs of the state. The print and online versions of this publication are well-designed and exceptionally clear in graphical presentation and descriptive detail. The content and structure of the report are easy to navigate and provide a concise summary of methodology, accessible aggregate data, and in-depth appendices.”
The Bureau’s two reports were among only 13 reports selected from 38 nominated nationwide for a Notable Documents Award in 2024.