New Durham County internal audit director outlines reorganization, hiring and modernization plans

Shirley McFadden, Durham County's new internal audit director, described changes she has made since arriving in April, including reclassifying positions, posting an audit manager job and planning to hire an IT auditor to strengthen the office's technical capabilities.

McFadden said the office originally had "6 positions including myself" with three vacancies; she said those vacancies provided an opportunity to retool roles and that the office "just posted our 1st audit manager position" and plans to hire an IT auditor. She said in the first 90 days she spoke with roughly 30 directors and produced an audit plan in June using a risk-assessment approach rather than a purely traditional planning method.

On work execution, McFadden described closing an audit that had been open about 10 months, issuing two reports and a memo as a result of that work. She also said the audit department moved from manual work papers on a network drive to an interim SharePoint site created with IT, and that identifying a formal work-paper vendor is the next step.

McFadden emphasized collaborative audit practices to build trust with department managers — sharing findings early and working with management to develop recommendations — and framed her role around public service and ethics: "I feel like the taxpayer's watchdog," she said. She closed by outlining a vision for the office to provide more consulting and advisory services, strengthen IT and cybersecurity audit skills, and emphasize continuous learning among auditors.

The conversation noted specific operational steps (hiring, reclassification, SharePoint set-up) and described the audit shop's immediate milestones and future priorities.