INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT

COMPREHENSIVE OPERATIONAL AUDIT
AIRPORT PUBLIC PARKING OPERATION 

JANUARY 1, 2013  APRIL 11, 2014




ISSUE DATE: MAY 20, 2014
REPORT NO. 2014-03

INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT
AIRPORT PUBLIC PARKING OPERATION
JANUARY 1, 2013  APRIL 11, 2014 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

TRANSMITTAL LETTER ......................................................................................................................... 3 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 4 
BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................................... 5 
AUDIT SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................... 5 
CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................... 7 













2 of 7

INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT
AIRPORT PUBLIC PARKING OPERATION
JANUARY 1, 2013  APRIL 11, 2014 
TRANSMITTAL LETTER


Audit Committee
Port of Seattle
Seattle, Washington

We have completed an audit of Airport Public Parking Operation, which is within the Landside
Operations Department.
We reviewed information relating to public parking revenue from January 1, 2013 - April 11, 2014.
We conducted the audit in accordance with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards
and the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing. Those standards
require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a
reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the
evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit
objectives.
We extend our appreciation to the management and staff of Public Parking, Employee Parking,
Aviation Maintenance, and Accounting and Financial Reporting (AFR) for their assistance and
cooperation during the audit.

Joyce Kirangi, CPA, CGMA
Internal Audit, Director

AUDIT TEAM:                              RESPONSIBLE MANAGEMENT TEAM: 
Benjamin W. Wolfgram, Internal Auditor      Diane Santiago, Manager, Landside Operations 
Jack Hutchinson, Audit Manager              Jeff Hoevet, Senior Manager, Landside Operations 




3 of 7

INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT
AIRPORT PUBLIC PARKING OPERATION
JANUARY 1, 2013  APRIL 11, 2014 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Audit Scope and ObjectiveAUDIT SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES
The purpose of the audit was to determine whether:
1.  Airport public parking operation management controls are adequate to ensure:
Parking exception transactions are properly reviewed, approved, and documented.
Recorded cash and credit card transactions are reconciled to bank deposits.
Parking fees are charged in compliance with Commission-approved tariff rates.
2.  The  parking  revenue  system  completely  captures  a  record  of  each  vehicle  exiting  the
parking garage.
We reviewed Airport Public Parking information for the period January 1, 2013  April 11, 2014.

BACKGROUND        BACKGROUND
The Port of Seattle owns and operates the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (STIA) parking
garage. Airport Public Parking, which is within the Landside Operations Department, manages the
day-to-day receipting operation of the parking garage. Commission-approved Airport Tariff No. 1
establishes  the  schedule  for  parking  rates.  Excluding  exception  transactions,  the  system
automatically calculates parking fee based on the parking location and duration of the stay.
Airport Public Parking uses an automated parking revenue system to process parking transactions
and to report parking revenue. Aviation Maintenance Electronics Technicians (ETs) provide
technical support to the automated system. Public Parking has three revenue control auditors who
monitor the cashiers' daily parking transactions, with a focus on exception transactions, such as
lost or unreadable tickets. Airport Public Parking also works closely with the Accounting and
Financial Reporting (AFR) Department, to reconcile parking revenue and credit card payments.
Annual airport parking revenue of $50 million is the single largest source of revenue generated from
a Port-operated activity and is a significant portion of total Port revenue.  Credit cards are the
most common method of payment, comprising almost 95% of total parking receipts in 2012 and
2013. 
Audit Result Summary               AUDIT RESULT SUMMARY
Management controls are adequate to ensure that exception transactions are properly reviewed,
approved and documented, recorded cash and credit card transactions are reconciled to bank
deposits, and parking fees are charged in accordance with the Commission-approved tariff. The
tube-counting devices captured 99.2% of the vehicles exiting the garage when compared to the
vehicle records captured in the parking revenue system.

4 of 7

INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT
AIRPORT PUBLIC PARKING OPERATION
JANUARY 1, 2013  APRIL 11, 2014 

BackgroundBACKGROUND 

The Port of Seattle owns and operates the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (STIA) parking
garage. Airport Public Parking, which is within the Landside Operations Department, manages the
day-to-day receipting operation of the parking garage. Commission-approved Airport Tariff No. 1
establishes  the  schedule  for  parking  rates.  Excluding  exception  transactions,  the  system
automatically calculates parking fee based on the parking location and duration of the stay.
Public Parking uses an automated parking revenue system to process parking transactions and to
report parking revenue. Aviation Maintenance Electronics Technicians (ETs) provide technical
support to the system. Public Parking has three revenue control auditors who monitor cashiers'
daily parking records, with a focus on exception transactions, such as lost and unreadable tickets.
Public Parking also works closely with the Accounting and Financial Reporting (AFR) Department to
reconcile parking revenue and credit card payments.
In addition to fee-paying customers, there are programs offering free parking privileges to those
with legitimate Port-related or sponsored business at the airport. These programs include
validations for organizations such as Port Jobs and the USO. Airport employees also do not pay and
have access cards to the garage. There are a number of payment methods: payment can be through
the Pay-on-Foot (POF) machines (credit cards only), which are located inside the parking garage,
cashiers at the Toll Plaza exit lanes, or credit card inserted into readers at the exit lanes. Excluding
exception transactions, the system automatically calculates parking fee based on the parking
location and duration of the stay. Further, some exception transactions require the approval of a
parking supervisor.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS 
Annual airport parking revenue of $50 million is the single largest source of revenue generated from
a Port-operated activity and is a significant portion of total Port revenue.  Credit cards are the
most common method of payment, comprising almost 95% of total parking receipts in 2012 and
2013.
PUBLIC PARKING RECEIPTS 
Payment Type           2012 Receipts              Share       2013 Receipts              Share 
Cash                    $2,925,112             5.5%         $2,874,971             5.2% 
Credit Card                 50,725,355              94.5%          52,655,053              94.8% 
TOTAL                  $53,650,467           100.0%        $55,530,023           100.0% 
Data Source: Port Parking Revenue System 

Audit Scope and MethodologyAUDIT SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY 
Our audit focused on management controls over parking receipting operations, utilizing system
reports and other information. This audit is the first audit of a complete review of the parking
5 of 7

INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT
AIRPORT PUBLIC PARKING OPERATION
JANUARY 1, 2013  APRIL 11, 2014 
revenue system. A second audit with an information technology focus is under consideration as part
of our 2014 work plan.
We reviewed information for the period January 1, 2013 - April 11, 2014. We utilized a risk-based
audit  approach  from  planning  to  testing.  We  gathered  information  through  interviews,
observations, analytical procedures, and reviews of department policies and procedures, in order
to obtain a complete understanding of the Airport Public Parking operation. We assessed risks and
identified management controls established to mitigate related risks. We tested and evaluated
whether the controls were functioning as intended.
We applied additional detailed audit procedures to areas with the highest likelihood of significant
negative impact as follows:
1.  To determine whether airport public parking operation management controls are adequate
to ensure:
Parking exception transactions are properly reviewed, approved, and documented.
Recorded cash and credit card transactions are reconciled to bank deposits.
Parking fees are charged in compliance with Commission-approved tariff rates.
We selected a sample of four days between January 1, 2013, and April 11, 2014, and
reviewed system daily records to verify that management controls were functioning as
intended. We tested daily cashiers' reports and records to determine whether there was: 
Proper documentation and authorization of exception transactions.
Tracking of change funds.
Appropriate use and documentation of supervisor access cards.
Effective reconciliation of receipts to deposits.
Adequate daily review or monitoring by the parking revenue control auditors.
Daily reconciliation of credit card receipts to transaction records and bank deposits.
We also tested revenue transactions for one of the sample days and verified that parking
fees charged were in accordance with the Commission-approved tariff rates.
2.  To determine whether the parking revenue system completely captures a record of each
vehicle exiting the parking garage.
We employed a contractor to count vehicles exiting the parking garage facility from each of
the 14 Toll Plaza exit lanes using pneumatic tube counting devices. We conducted the test
without interruption (i.e., 24/7) for a period of four weeks from March 15, 2014 - April 11,
2014. We retained video footage for the entire testing period of all exiting vehicles and used
the footage where necessary to verify the counts.
We compared the results to the count of exiting vehicles, as recorded by the parking system
in the table that logs non-financial parking events, to determine whether the system has a
record for each exiting vehicle.

6 of 7

INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT
AIRPORT PUBLIC PARKING OPERATION
JANUARY 1, 2013  APRIL 11, 2014 
Conclusion CONCLUSION 
Management controls are adequate to ensure that exception transactions are properly reviewed,
approved and documented, recorded cash and credit card transactions are reconciled to bank
deposits, and parking fees are charged in accordance with the Commission-approved tariff. The
tube-counting devices captured 99.2% of the vehicles exiting the garage when compared to the
vehicle records captured in the parking revenue system.
















7 of 7