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Office of the City Auditor

Kyle Elser, CPA, CIA, CFE

photo of Kyle Elser

ASSISTANT CITY AUDITOR

Kyle Elser, Assistant City Auditor, has been with the City of San Diego for over 24 years. In October 2018 he was appointed Interim City Auditor for over 2 years while the City conducted a nationwide search to fill the position prior to his retirement, and Andy Hanau was selected to be the next City Auditor. Kyle previously filled the role as the City's Interim Internal Auditor back in April 2007 to reestablish the City's Internal Audit function after it was disbanded in 2006. Eduardo Luna was hired as the first City Auditor in 2008 until he left to work for another organization in September 2018. During Kyle’s career with the City, he has also been the Internal Auditor for the San Diego City Employee Retirement System, the City's Payroll Manager, and he worked in the City's Audit Division for 10 years. Before joining the City, Kyle worked for a local CPA firm for seven years doing professional accounting and tax work.

Kyle has overseen numerous audits and fraud investigations, and he was instrumental in developing the first Annual Citywide Risk Assessment for audit planning purposes, and this methodology for risk-based audit planning has been used ever since. He has overseen the City’s Fraud Hotline since it was open to the public on August 25, 2008. Kyle is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). He is a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, and Association of Local Government Auditors. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting from Humboldt State University.