Overview
We found that, during the audit period, the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) did not have documented policies and procedures for how its annual reports are drafted, including who should be responsible for writing the report, what information it should contain, what steps should be taken to verify the accuracy of the report’s information, and when the report should be published.
By not having documented policies and procedures for the creation of its annual reports, OCA risks not providing timely, relevant information to stakeholders, policymakers, and the general public, who must make decisions about the services provided to children and the issues affecting them. This can negatively impact children in Massachusetts.
Authoritative Guidance
Section 2(d) of Chapter 18C of the General Laws states, “[OCA] shall advise the public and those at the highest levels of state government about how the commonwealth may improve its services to and for children and their families.”
The external communications section of OCA’s June 2021 internal control plan states,
The OCA communicates its work through its Annual Report that is published after the close of each fiscal year and includes a summary of all work of the OCA for that year. . . . The OCA also posts all meeting minutes and reports on its website and has [an X, formerly known as Twitter] account for posting newsworthy events relating to the work of the OCA.
Because OCA’s internal control plan requires that OCA communicate its work to the public through published annual reporting, we consider it a best practice to have policies and procedures documented to ensure that its internal control plan is followed.
Reasons for Condition
OCA’s director told us in an email on June 24, 2022 that OCA “follows a standard protocol [for reports that OCA expects to make public] although it is not memorialized in writing.”
Recommendation
OCA should document its aforementioned standard protocol for creating and issuing annual reports to better serve stakeholders and policymakers when they make decisions about the services provided to children in Massachusetts.
Auditee’s Response
The OCA acknowledges and appreciates this finding. As the audit notes, the OCA was a very small state agency during the audit period. We had approximately 15 staff members. The OCA began a significant staff expansion during the audit period and has approximately doubled in size since the beginning of the audit period. The OCA has a small staff given the size of its mandate and so has designed many of our functions to be nimble. At the time of the audit the OCA had a universal internal understanding of the staff member responsible for organizing and executing the Annual Report from conception to publication. The OCA leaned on its senior management team to execute that function each year, a senior management team that is adept at close collaboration and is able to pivot when necessary to accommodate the various significant needs of the agency. The senior management team executed the task reliably and expertly each year.
At the time of the audit, writing a formal documented procedure for the creation of the annual report would have made little sense given that the report was a team effort designed by a universally acknowledged project leader with shifting tasks due to senior team member capacity. In the years since the audit the OCA has expanded our staff, increased our capacity for data gathering and analysis, and further developed a middle manager function that has increased the OCA’s ability to routinize our work. The OCA agrees that at the size that the OCA is currently, and with our current capacity, it is not only wise to create a documented procedure for the creation of the annual report, but a necessity. The OCA affirms that we will meet this expectation within the next six months.
Auditor’s Reply
Based on its response, OCA is taking measures to address our concerns in this area.
| Date published: | October 7, 2024 |
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