The legislative auditing function was added to City Council's Central Staff responsibilities in June 1971 following a Personnel Department study recommending that some system for analyzing City programs be established. The City Council created five full-time positions dedicated to conducting audits. The purpose of the audit function was to provide the Council with objective and independent analysis of City programs, allowing Council a means to monitor programs, finances, and policies.

The staff conducted three types of audits: 1) financial and compliance audits, 2) economy and efficiency audits, and 3) program results and evaluations. Final reports were submitted to the City Council. The Central Staff audit function ended in 1986.

The Office of the Comptroller included an audit division that focused primarily on financial audits (see series 1800-13) from the 1960s until 1993, when the City Auditor function was moved to the Legislative Department and the focus was changed from financial to program audits. In 1999, an independent Office of the City Auditor was created. The records for these auditors are not part of this series.

The Legislative Audits and Special Project Reports series is divided into two subseries consisting of 1) administrative records and 2) project records.

Administrative records include procedure manuals and audit handbook materials, a file of legislative audit background and history records, and a list of audits and reports. The compiled list does not include all audits and special project reports found among the project records and not all audits listed are represented in the series.

The project records include correspondence, legal opinions, handwritten notes, survey/audit work plans and scope and objective documents, draft and final audits, report attachments, and responses to final products. The records do not include raw data files. Project files do not necessarily include all of the record types cited. For example, the License and Consumer Affairs audit file includes only a cover letter with brief recommendations of the auditor.

Final copies of the audits may not be included in the files. Some final reports can be found in Record Series 1802-D6 and in the Published Documents Collection.