Voice of OC: State Looks to Revoke Irvine Great Park Auditors’ Licenses in Beefed up Complaint
The auditing firm that conducted two separate audits of Irvine’s Great Park contracting and spending could have its certifications revoked, along with the auditors involved, after Patti Bowers, executive officer of the state Board of Accountancy, beefed up an existing complaint with the board.

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State Agency Files Additional Charges Against City of Irvine Auditor for its Work on the Discredited Great Park Audit

California Board of Accountancy that protects the public from violations of accounting laws and regulations to conduct a hearing concerning a formal complaint filed against the City of Irvine’s accounting firm

>> “First Amended Accusation against HSNO etc” in PDF

ocregister: The Great Park audit that wasn’t
Some would like to claim that the recently released report from the office of the California State Auditor “found no violation of the law” in their audit of the Great Park review. What the auditors make abundantly clear is that what dragged out over a period of almost two years was not an “audit” at all. The use of the term was a deliberate misrepresentation used to confer credibility on something that many believe was nothing more than a politically motivated witch hunt.

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Voice of OC: State Levels Heavy Criticism on Irvine’s Great Park Audit
The city of Irvine’s high-profile and controversial forensic audit of the Great Park was plagued by poor governance, a lack of auditing standards, and a compromised bidding process, according to a scathing report released by State Auditor Elaine Howle’s office Tuesday.

The 69-page report found a host of problems with how Irvine officials handled a review of the more than $250 million spent by the city to develop 88 acres of the 1,300 acre park, the largest and most scandal-ridden public project in recent county history.
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Liberal OC: State Auditor Report on Great Park Audit: Poor Governance Compromised Report’s Integrity
The long awaited Audit of the Great Park Forensic Audit is out and it’s highly critical of HSNO and the City of Irvine for how the entire process was managed. It’s critical of the sub-committee consisting of Council members Christina Shea and Jeff Lalloway and basically accused the Republicans running the city council of the same sloppiness they accused Larry Agran of in managing the development of the Great Park.

From an August 9 letter sent to Governor Jerry Brown and legislative leaders, the audit takes the city to task for favoring one vendor (HSNO) over others, releasing partial depositions before a key election, and not providing consistency in allowing deposed witnesses to comment on their testimony transcripts, among others. All of which effectively confirms the highly-politicized nature of the Great Park audit that cost taxpayers nearly $1.7 million — nearly seven times the amount of the original $240,000 estimate.

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Voice OC: Has the Great Park Investigation Become Its Own Boondoggle?
If you had walked in late to the Great Park Board of Directors meeting on Sept. 22, you might have thought at first that you’d entered a mini time warp in the city’s decade-long Great Park saga.

Republican council members were railing about cost overruns, questionable invoices, and other expense-related issues, just like they had throughout 2013 and 2014. Except they weren’t railing about Great Park consultants — they were grilling the person they’d hired to investigate Great Park consultants.

That’s right — the latest question that won’t go away in the investigation of the Great Park boondoggle is whether the investigation itself is becoming a boondoggle?
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Liberal OC: Great Park Auditors are Hypocrites
The law firm of Aleshire & Wynder and the accounting firm Hagen, Streiff, Newton & Oshiro Accountants PC submitted invoices well over budget that was not authorized by the Irvine City Council to complete the final report of the Great Park forensic audit and investigation, employing the very tactics they criticized selected vendors of the Great Park for — the practice of amending contracts to cover work done without budgetary authorization.

Quite an embarrassment for Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Lalloway and Council member Christina Shea that their handpicked hachet men went way over budget to complete a report on to match some political deadline.
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Voice of OC Register: Irvine won’t pay Great Park audit firms for over-budget work

IRVINE – City leaders on Tuesday declined to pay more than a quarter of a million dollars for over-budget work done by two firms hired to investigate spending on the Great Park project.

They did so on advice from City Manager Sean Joyce, who recommended handing over about $56,000 of the roughly $290,000 requested.

Officials split over the request. The vote to follow the staff recommendation was 2-2, with council members Lynn Schott and Jeff Lalloway in favor. Mayor Steven Choi and Councilwoman Christina Shea were opposed, and advocated for paying out all funds requested.

So far, the city has spent more than $1.4 million for work in connection with the audit. Of that, $778,000 went to forensic auditing firm, Hagen, Streiff, Newton & Oshiro Accountants, and $539,211 went to law firm Aleshire & Wynder.

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Voice of OC Register: Supporters of Great Park audit hypocritically ignore transparency

IRVINE – Two firms charged with auditing Great Park spending went $283,940 over budget and are asking the city to pay.

City Council members retained Newport Beach-based forensic auditing firm Hagen, Streiff, Newton & Oshiro Accountants PC for $240,000 to do an audit of the Great Park project in 2013. The firm was tasked with accounting for more than $200 million spent on planning, development and construction at the former El Toro air base.

In 2014, law firm Aleshire & Wynder was brought in to help determine whether money was mismanaged or misspent.

Now, more than $1.4 million has been spent on the investigation and the council Tuesday afternoon is slated to consider requests for more money.

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Voice of OC Register: Supporters of Great Park audit hypocritically ignore transparency
Opinion: Supporters of Great Park audit hypocritically ignore transparency | audit, city, park, great, irvine, state, council, review, firm, funds

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