Provo councilor says last year's internal audit work wasn't completed

Provo Councilor Travis Hoban told the council on April 28, 2026, that the prior year's internal audit work had not been completed because of questions about the audit function's clarity, according to the meeting minutes. ^[1]

The council was reviewing changes to its audit committee charter and internal audit charter. The changes named the council's executive director as chief audit executive, set the committee at three to five members with at least two council members and one member of the public, required new members to take a training from the Office of the Legislative Auditor General and added a process for fraud hotline complaints. ^[1]

Hotline complaints

Council Executive Director Justin Harrison said the committee receives one or two hotline complaints a quarter on average. In his four years in the job, he said, only two had been about fraud or abuse within the city; the others typically came from members of the public who believed private businesses had defrauded them. ^[1]

Councilor Becky Bogdin confirmed that none of the substantive complaints had been verified, the minutes say. ^[1]

Limits on the auditor

City Attorney Brian Jones said that, unlike counties and the state, the city has no statutory framework defining an auditor position or its powers, and that an auditor working under the council would be limited in compelling cooperation from the executive branch. He said the committee structure was adopted partly to earn points on the state's fraud risk assessment. ^[1]

Council Vice-Chair Craig Christensen asked whether the chief audit executive should be a certified auditor instead of an administrator. Councilor Whitlock asked whether a conflict-of-interest recusal process should be written into the charter. ^[1]

On May 12, 2026, the council approved the charter changes and confirmed a public member of the committee, Citizen Portal reported. ^[2]