Next-day audits are now on the menu of services in Missouri. Also available: extended audit experiences for respondents failing to implement corrective measures to curtail egregious mismanagement.

Click for video of Auditor Tom Schweich at press conference, courtesy Missouri News Horizon

Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich unveiled his new ASAP and AFTER initiatives Wednesday during a press conference held in the Missouri Capitol.

Schweich said ASAP, or Auditor’s Swift Assessment Program, and AFTER, or Auditor’s Follow-up Team to Effect Recommendations, are designed as front and back-end mechanisms, respectively, to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the state auditor’s office.

To reduce the time in which cover-ups may happen following allegations of embezzlement, fraud or tremendous mismanagement, the ASAP team would be prepared to issue subpoenas to prevent record destruction and initiate an audit a day later, he said.

The AFTER initiative is a follow-up program to evaluate implementation of audit recommendations.

In certain cases the auditor will obtain a commitment to fix identified problems. The auditor said he may chose to leave his staff on the case, not closing an open audit or perhaps open a new audit if problems persist.

Schweich named Darrell Moore, a former Greene County prosecutor, to head both efforts.

The auditor’s office will now include deadlines for expected corrections on audit reports and the staff will publish an annual report evaluating how well the corrections were implemented. Plus, audits dealing with federal stimulus funds will make a note of how the money is being used and whether it is achieving its purposes.

By Rebecca Townsend, Missouri News Horizon, rtownsend@monewshorizon.org

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