Mike Macdonell is City of Vancouver’s first Auditor General

AFTER a broad recruitment search, Vancouver City Council appointed Mike Macdonell in the newly created role of Auditor General for the City.

This appointment follows the November 4, 2020 Council approval of the establishment of the Office of the Auditor General and the terms of reference for the Auditor General Recruitment Committee (AGRC) and the Auditor General Committee (AGC). The AGRC, formed for the purpose of recruiting an independent Auditor General, was  comprised of Councillors Rebecca Bligh, Adriane Carr, Lisa Dominato, Colleen Hardwick (Chair), and Sarah Kirby-Yung.

“The appointment of Mike Macdonell as the Inaugural Auditor General is a significant milestone for the City of Vancouver,” said Hardwick on Monday. “For the first time, the City will have independent assurance of the stewardship of public funds; joining every other major city in Canada. Mike comes with a wealth of knowledge and experience and is up to the challenge. He possesses the qualities that we have been seeking: integrity, discretion, collaborative, approachable; with a strong data-driven and standards focus.”

“Vancouver’s first ever Auditor General is an important addition to our governance structure in the City. I want to thank all the councillors for their hard work and dedication to this process, and look forward to working with Mike Macdonell as he establishes this office,” said Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart.

At the Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia, Macdonell was the Assistant Auditor General, Quality Assurance, Standards and Administration. He led performance audits of Crown corporations, ministries and legislative offices in areas ranging from health care, transportation, public utilities, police services, to performance management and reporting.

At British Columbia’s Auditor General for Local Government, Macdonell conducted quality control reviews and provided technical advice on all the audits conducted by the office over the eight years it was in was operation. In the private sector, he was a business advisor and leader of BC Public Sector Enterprise Risk Services for a national accounting and advisory services firm.

A Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA), Macdonell is a Certified Fraud Examiner and holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees. As a volunteer, he served six years on the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC and sat on the Institute’s Practice Review and Licensing Committee as well as the Public Practice Committee of CPA BC.