NC auditor earns top national award for DMV audit

The North Carolina Office of the State Auditor (NCOSA) has been awarded the National State Auditors Association’s Excellence in Accountability Award (NSAA) for its performance audit of the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles (NCDMV).

The NSAA awards are presented to the best “large” and “small” performance audit reports, and this marks the first time the State Auditor’s Office has received NSAA’s top honors in the Performance Audit (Large) category. 

“Earning the Excellence in Accountability Award proves just how impactful the Office of State Auditor can be,” state Auditor Dave Boliek said in a press release. “Auditing the DMV was a Day One commitment of mine to the people of North Carolina. Our team produced a data-driven audit that created a shared priority of government to drive real change at the DMV. I’m proud of the State Auditor’s Performance Division for their work, and I’m grateful for NSAA’s recognition of our audit.”

The 435-page audit was released in August.

He equated the NCDMV to Hurricane Helene after the release of the audit.

“We’ve seen, for example, the response that our legislature and our citizens have given to western North Carolina (for Hurricane Helene) when we have a disaster, and the DMV is at that level of emergency in the state of North Carolina,” Boliek told reporters in August. “Our DMV affects the economy; it affects people having to take off work unnecessarily. It takes our students out of the classroom. This has to be fixed, and it has to be a top priority that includes the DMV, DOT, legislature, and the governor’s office.”

Twenty auditors in Boliek’s office worked for six months in conjunction with the Institute for Transportation Research, North Carolina State University, the Bryan School of Business & Economics at UNC Greensboro, and the UNC School of Government to compile the audit which is broken down into three parts: an audit of information systems, a performance audit of the licensing and issuing function of the DMV and details of the budget and spending of the DMV.

He noted an overall issue that the audit found was a lack of detailed and measurably relevant metrics at the DMV.

Among the main issues: deteriorating customer service, with average wait times of 1 hour 15 minutes, some over 2.5 hours; low employee morale; low salaries; inadequate training; vacancies; outdated technology; and a fractured relationship between the DMV and NCDOT, which Boliek recommended be separated from one another.

After the audit’s release, the DMV released a five-year strategic plan and has selected a new vendor, Kyndryl, to replace outdated tech systems.

The NSAA awards use criteria such as:

• Scope and potential for significant impact
• Persuasiveness of conclusions
• Focus of the recommendations on effective and efficient government
• Clarity and conciseness of communication style
• Innovation
• Usefulness to the customer
• Action produced

The NSAA is part of the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers (NASACT), which serves as the premier organization working to bring together state auditors, state comptrollers, and state treasurers to cooperatively address government financial management issues.

“NC auditor earns top national award for DMV audit” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.