Preliminary Follow-up: An Audit of Salt Lake County Assessor's Office Payroll

Auditor's Letter

September 16, 2025

In line with generally accepted government auditing standards and the established policies of the Auditor's Office, as authorized by Utah Code Title 17, Chapter 19a, "County Auditor," Part 2, "Powers and Duties," we maintain our responsibility to monitor and ensure that audit recommendations are addressed by county agencies through appropriate corrective action, which is also instrumental in shaping future audits.

This communication serves as the preliminary follow-up report for An Audit of Salt Lake County Assessor's Office Payroll, following the original audit report issued in June 2024. The original audit identified seven findings with 20 recommendations. The purpose of this review was to evaluate the progress made in addressing the findings and recommendations aimed at enhancing operational efficiency and compliance.

Our follow-up indicates that Assessor's Office management has fully implemented 14 of the 20 audit recommendations, with six still in progress. By implementing recommendations to ensure the timely removal of terminated employees from timekeeping applications, developing written internal policies regarding timekeeping approval and overtime, and implementing a vehicle usage verification process demonstrates management's commitment to addressing the risks identified in our preliminary audit.

Further work is critical to fully address risks related to approving timecards and overtime, fully documenting fleet vehicle usage, and securely storing fleet vehicle keys. A secondary follow-up audit will be conducted no sooner than March 2026 to verify compliance in these areas.

We performed this audit in accordance with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions.

We extend our appreciation to Assessor's Office management for their cooperation during this process. The enclosed follow-up report summarizes the current status of the recommendations. Should you have any questions or require further discussion, please do not hesitate to contact me at 385-468-7200.

Chris Harding, CPA, CFE, CIA
Salt Lake County Auditor