Cuyahoga County Considers Extending Audit Timeline Due to Staffing Limits

Internal Audit Department may need to stretch reviews from 5 to 7 years as it struggles to keep up with auditing over 100 county departments and programs.

Mar. 17, 2026 at 4:08pm

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Cuyahoga County's Internal Audit Department is facing staffing challenges that may force it to extend the timeline for auditing county departments and agencies from the current 5-year cycle to 7 years. The department is responsible for reviewing the records, receipts, and internal procedures of up to 105 different units to ensure compliance with rules, but with only 6 auditors, they have been unable to complete audits on all departments within the 5-year period as required by policy. To improve completion rates, the department plans to start outsourcing some audit work and will recommend changing the policy to require audits every 7 years instead of 5.

Why it matters

Regular audits are crucial for identifying potential issues or policy violations before they escalate into larger problems that could cost taxpayers. However, the Internal Audit Department's resource constraints mean some lower-risk departments may go longer without oversight, raising concerns about financial controls and compliance, even if the highest-risk areas are still being reviewed annually.

The details

The Internal Audit Department is supposed to review county departments and agencies at least once every 5 years, but Audit Director Cory Swaisgood says his 6-person team cannot keep up with auditing over 100 units in that timeframe. In 2025, the department completed 11 of 13 planned audits, exceeding their annual goal, and they also implemented 'continuous monitoring' to review samples of expenses each quarter. Even so, they only audited 71% of the 105 units over the 5-year period. To improve completion rates, Swaisgood plans to start outsourcing some audit work and will recommend changing the policy to require audits every 7 years instead of 5.

  • In 2025, the Internal Audit Department completed 11 of 13 planned audit projects.
  • Swaisgood plans to recommend changing the audit policy to a 7-year cycle in May 2026.

The players

Cuyahoga County Internal Audit Department

The department responsible for reviewing county departments and agencies to ensure compliance with rules and identify potential issues.

Cory Swaisgood

The Audit Director of the Cuyahoga County Internal Audit Department.

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What they’re saying

“It is not possible currently to review them all within a five-year period.”

— Cory Swaisgood, Audit Director (cleveland.com)

“If we can at the very least get through all of those significant emerging risks within that 12-month period, I think we've done our job.”

— Cory Swaisgood, Audit Director (cleveland.com)

What’s next

Swaisgood plans to recommend changing the audit policy from a 5-year cycle to a 7-year cycle at the Audit Committee meeting in May 2026.

The takeaway

Cuyahoga County's Internal Audit Department is facing resource constraints that may force it to extend the timeline for reviewing county departments, raising concerns about potential oversight gaps, especially for lower-risk areas. This highlights the challenge of maintaining robust financial controls and compliance across a large government organization with limited auditing capacity.