Episode 41 - Harriet Richardson: Part 2

Harriet Richardson returns for a second episode, and this time she pulls back the curtain on how great audits get built. She walks through the frameworks she relies on most, the logic model, Bloom's Taxonomy, and the elements of a finding, and shares how mastering these tools turns even the messiest, most sprawling audit into something decision-makers can actually use.Harriet takes us inside a real-world case where a chaotic, multi-topic audit was rescued, reorganized, and split into three focused projects, all because she could see the structure hiding inside the noise. She also tackles one of the hottest topics in auditing right now: the difference between outputs and outcomes, and why measuring the wrong one can make an ineffective program look like a roaring success. From a contract that helped exactly one person to auditors going into the field without the frameworks to back them up, Harriet connects the dots between structure, fieldwork, and real impact. If you want to think like a legend, this is the episode to study.CHAPTERS:00:00 — Intro00:53 — Harriet's origin story: rescuing a runaway audit03:47 — How editing hundreds of audit reports sharpens your instincts06:14 — Why financial auditors struggle with cause09:01 — Training auditors to think like performance auditors12:33 — Efficiency audits and a national trend15:06 — Outputs vs. outcomes: the BART homeless services example19:35 — Bloom's Taxonomy and critical thinking in auditing22:57 — Advice for new auditorsABOUT HARRIET RICHARDSONHarriet Richardson is a respected expert in government auditing standards with a career spanning over three decades as a performance auditor, a Yellow Book advisor, and an instructor. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a Master of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in financial management. She is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor, and Certified Government Audit Professional.For more than three decades, she served as a performance auditor at the federal, state, and local levels of government. In addition to an appointment by California Governor Gavin Newsom as the first Inspector General for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system (also known as BART), Harriet served in other key roles including City Auditor for the City of Palo Alto (California), Audit Manager for the City of Berkeley (California), Deputy State Auditor for the Washington State Auditor’s Office, Audit Director for the City and County of San Francisco (California), and Deputy City Auditor for the City of Atlanta’s Auditor’s Office (Georgia).Harriet’s accomplishments include serving for five years on the board of the Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA), including a term as president and as chair of the ALGA’s Professional Issues Committee. She was ALGA’s representative on the Comptroller’s General’s Government Auditing Standards Advisory Council (2016-2021), which advises the U.S. Government Accountability Office on the Yellow Book. She currently sits on The Institute of Internal Auditors’ International Internal Audit Standards Board and the Government Accounting Standards Advisory Council, and is chair of her city’s Planning Commission. She was recognized for her professional achievements when she received ALGA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Association of Government Accountant’s Excellence in Government Leadership Award (2017), and the David M. Walker Excellence in Government Performance and Accountability Award (2018).