The Office of State Ethics Chair, Thomas Dooley, had the honor of drawing the names of 40 lobbyists out of a box today for random audit by the agency’s enforcement division. As part of their annual ritual, he read each name and the staff checked to make sure that each client lobbyist hadn’t been audited within the last three years. Each of these client lobbyists will now go through the audit process, along with their retained communicator lobbyists if they have them, and will need to produce documents relating to their lobbying activities for the period of 2007, 2008 and 2009. Most contract lobbyists have been through this porocess, some more than others depending on the number of clients they have. But for some clients, this is a first and can be scary. The OSE auditor does a great job of making the whole thing relatively painless so long as you have your documentation in order and have filed your reports on time. Ethical Influence has conducted plenty of audits and helped clients prepare for these OSE reviews. While no one wishes to have their name selected, an audit is always an opportunity to learn how to keep better records and how to streamline your internal procedures so that reporting can be done more efficiently and accurately.
Here’s a link to the list of those selected today:
Here’s a link to the OSE’s audit manual, which can truly help those who are going through the process and will help all lobbyists maintain the proper documentation for future audits.
