Audits

Los Angeles County's second-highest-ranking employee took numerous steps to secure a county job for her future son-in-law that paid nearly $1,000 more a month than the position called for, according to a confidential audit reviewed by The Times. County auditors said that Sharon Harper, the top deputy to the county's chief executive, had a "clear conflict of interest" in the hiring of Ed'Ward Rhone and that the chief executive "should consider appropriate disciplinary action." The Times had sought the audit for several weeks, submitting public information requests to supervisors' offices and the county auditor controller.

The United States' chief inspector in Iraq said Thursday that audits still underway have found problems with prices charged by Halliburton unit KBR for work in Iraq and Kuwait. Stuart Bowen, inspector general for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, said that besides concerns involving hotel costs and the purchase of trucks, a broad audit would soon be announced on KBR's task of providing services to the authority.

The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a framework Wednesday that would make it easier for companies and their auditors to comply with a landmark anti-fraud law. The vote by the five SEC commissioners was unanimous to support building more leeway into regulations, especially rules for auditors being written by the independent board that oversees the accounting industry.

The city of Los Angeles has badly neglected its parks system, with the failure to maintain the city's 54 swimming pools causing six to close and 24 to fall into serious disrepair, according to an audit released Monday by the city controller. The audit also estimates it would cost $78 million to properly restore the city's golf courses, a challenge made more difficult by the lack of a master plan for the maintenance and renewal of park facilities.

Tucked into recommendations released Tuesday for Los Angeles' Animal Services Department is an idea with a special bearing on a pet's well-being. The city controller advises L.A.'s animal shelters to "investigate the feasibility of developing special programs to enhance the presentation of impounded animals." Among the suggestions for dogs and cats: sweaters, bows, collars and bandannas.

Responding to complaints from San Fernando Valley ratepayers, the Los Angeles City Council selected a firm Tuesday to audit the city's waste-water treatment system. Valley residents have long complained that they have been overcharged by the system, which, with 4 million customers, is the third-largest in the nation. The audit will compare Los Angeles with other public and private systems throughout the country. The project is expected to be completed within six months at a cost of $497,622.

Following a string of errors at the Merced County elections office, the Board of Supervisors last week approved spending up to $75,000 to hire an attorney to audit elections practices. Officials say voters have been given the wrong ballots, ballots have been misprinted, and absentee voters have received official ballots before sample ballots. In one instance, a school board candidate's name was left off the November ballot.

An Oakland volunteer center that helped distribute government money to youth groups and community programs for 25 years will undergo a city audit over allegations that it misused public money. The Volunteer Center of Alameda County, which had offices in Oakland and Pleasanton, filed for bankruptcy in late December.

A Los Angeles protest by the Don't Count Us Out Coalition has apparently prompted a senior Nielsen Media Research spokesman to agree to an independent audit of its data. Minority advocacy groups have criticized Nielsen Media Research's electronic "people meter," planned to begin in July, arguing the new methodology will undercount minority television viewers. As a result, they say, there will likely be fewer programs serving those viewers.

Lawyers for the state auditor general's office and the City of Irwindale are working out an agreement under which a Riverside County judge would decide whether the state has a right to audit Irwindale's books. The state is trying to determine if a $10-million advance to the Los Angeles Raiders exceeded voter-imposed spending limits, attorneys said Tuesday. The case has been in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Pomona, where Judge Thomas Nuss on Tuesday postponed the matter for another week.