Charlottetown City Council met February 27, 2023 and agreed to accept and release the findings of the BDO Canada Forensic Audit Report and Internal Controls Assessment which they initially received February 6, 2023.
“This forensic audit was authorized by Council and commissioned by Interim CAO Donna Waddell in August 2022 in response to allegations against the city corporation,” says Mayor Philip Brown. “The final report has validated my long-held belief that there was no major wrong-doing by our city staff or Council. There were no findings of fraud nor misappropriation of funds although the report did identify deficiencies in internal controls related to procurement and capital project management; BDO’s recommendations are being taken seriously.”
The City was fully compliant with all BDO Canada’s requests for information resulting in over 10,000 documents being released to the auditors for review and analysis including policies, council meeting minutes and purchase orders spanning a seven-year period.
“From the beginning of this process, we took the stance that a completely independent and professionally conducted audit would objectively find that the City has acted in good faith,” says Interim CAO Donna Waddell. “Some of the recommendations regarding the carry forward of capital projects work and improving City-owned IT equipment inventory tracking as well as documentation to support fair market value of equipment sold have already been addressed. I’d like to thank all of the City staff who worked closely with the auditors over the last five months to ensure full disclosure of all documentation required for a fulsome report.”
“This is an opportunity under the new CAO and finance manager to use audit recommendations to guide a comprehensive review of internal controls and ensure a high level of performance in both capital and operational practices especially around procurement,” says Mayor Brown. “Staff are already working on creating and revising policies regarding Council and staff travel expenses.”
The report was vetted through the City’s solicitor prior to release to ensure that the City’s obligations under the Municipal Government Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act were met. The City also required BDO Canada’s permission as the report writer prior to public release. A copy can be found on
Charlottetown.ca under Resident Services, Plans Reports and Services subsection.