FAC Explorer

Audit 33280

FY End
2022-06-30
Total Expended
$11.53M
Findings
2
Programs
24
Organization: The New York Botanical Garden (NY)
Year: 2022 Accepted: 2023-03-29
Auditor: Deloitte & Touche LLP

Organization Exclusion Status:

Findings

ID Ref Severity Repeat Requirement
32848 2022-001 Significant Deficiency - B
609290 2022-001 Significant Deficiency - B

Programs

ALN Program Spent Major Findings
59.075 Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program - Covid-19 Program $10.00M Yes 1
45.312 National Leadership Grants-Scaling and Expanding the Ecoflora Model of Citizen Science Engagement $254,151 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences-Digitization Collaborative Research Building A Global Consortium of Bryophytes & Lichens Keystones of Cryptobiotic Communities $145,176 - 0
45.164 Promotion of the Humanities_public Programs-Burle Marx $122,246 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences- Collaborative Research Illuminate Forces Shaping Appalachian Lichen Distribution $111,532 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences-Eager: Artifical Intelligence(ai) to Accelerate Palnt Species Discovery $106,702 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences-Digitization Tcn: Collaborative Research: Digitizing "endless Forms": Facilitating Research on Imperiled Plants with Extreme Morphologies - Pace/thiers $102,424 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences-Nsf: Armstrong-Myanmar's Northern Forest Complex $94,389 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences-Digitization Tcn: Collaborative Research: Bringing Asia to Digital Life: Mobilizing Underrepresented Asian Herbarium Collections in the US to Propel Biodiversity Discovery $88,564 - 0
45.301 Museums for America- New Mapping Program Partnering with Blue Raster $85,960 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences-Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (lead)- Mri Living Fossils: Genome - Ambrose/little $77,169 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences-Nsf:balick Coll Research: Plant-Fungal Tafea Vanuatu $64,625 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences-Nsf:plunkett Collab Research Neotropical Araliaceae $62,319 - 0
45.301 Museums for America-Veterans and the Edible Academy $56,080 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences-Collaborative Research: Resolving the Relationships of Melastomataceae, One of the World's Most Diverse Flowering Plant Radiation $53,921 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences-Oklahoma State University - Collaborative American Crossroads Digitizing the Vascula Flora of the South Central United States $39,404 - 0
84.268 Federal Direct Student Loans $20,784 - 0
15.944 Natural Resource Stewardship-Enhance Rare Lichen Protection by Assessing Distribution and Vulnerability to Management Actions $12,256 - 0
10.500 Cooperative Extension Service- Usda Cfp $10,573 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences- - Digitization Tcn: Collaborative Research: the Pteridological Collections Consortium - Watson/moran $8,752 - 0
10.001 Agricultural Research_basic and Applied Research-Usda - Dicot - Plunkett $8,683 - 0
45.149 Promotion of the Humanities_division of Preservation and Access-the Language of Land and Life: Connecting Language and Ecology in Wixarika- McAlvay Account $5,317 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences-Lendemer- Dimensions Lichens $2,292 - 0
47.074 Biological Sciences-Opus: A Career in Cycad Biology: An E-Monograph $201 - 0

Contacts

Name Title Type
E7S2Q4L89F44 Marlon Jones Auditee
7188178719 Jill Strohmeyer Auditor
No contacts on file

Notes to SEFA

Title: Note 3 Relationship to Federal Financial Reports Accounting Policies: 1.BASIS OF ACCOUNTING Basis of Presentation The accompanying consolidated financial statements represent the accounts of the Garden, a private not-for-profit corporation, formed in 1891 by the State of New York (the "State"), and its wholly owned limited liability company, North Central Bronx Real Estate, LLC. North Central Bronx Real Estate, LLC was formed during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013, to conduct acquisition of real property investments for the Garden, and to perform management services incidental to ownership of those investments. The accompanying consolidated financial statements also include the activities of The LuEsther T. Mertz Legacy Trust for The New York Botanical Garden (the "Legacy Trust"). The Legacy Trust was created on May 12, 2021, and was organized for the benefit of the Garden. The Garden controls the majority voting interest in the Legacy Trust, and the Garden benefits from any income generated by the Legacy Trust's assets. The consolidated financial statements have been prepared on an accrual basis to conform to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America for not-for-profit organizations. Under these principles, contributions or unconditional promises to give are recognized as revenues in the period received at their net present value, less an allowance for uncollectible pledges. Reporting Entity - The New York Botanical Garden (the "Garden") (located in the Bronx, New York), a not-for-profit organization, is a museum of plants and a scientific research center devoted to the study of plants and their uses. It is the Garden's mission to improve public understanding of the natural world, horticulture, and the relationships between plants and people. It is also the Garden's mission to expand humanity's knowledge of plants and how they are utilized. Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards - The accompanying schedule of expenditures of federal awards (the "Schedule") includes the federal award activity of the Garden under programs of the federal government for the year ended June 30, 2022. The information in this Schedule is presented in accordance with the requirements of Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards. The Schedule is prepared on an accrual basis of accounting. Because the Schedule presents only a selected portion of the operations of the Garden, it is not intended to and does not present the financial position, results of operations, or cash flows of the Garden. Grants and Contracts - The Garden receives a substantial amount of its operating support from federal, state, and local governments. The Garden records as revenue the reimbursement of indirect costs for applicable government-sponsored programs at negotiated rates each year. Indirect cost recovery revenue is recognized when reimbursements are billed to the sponsoring agency. The Garden's indirect cost recovery rate was 51.86% and 53.29% for the years ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Revenue Recognition - The Garden reports gifts of cash and other assets as restricted support if received with donor stipulations that limit the use of those assets. When expenditures are incurred that fulfill a donor restriction, net assets with donor restrictions are reclassified to net assets without donor restrictions and reported in the consolidated statements of activities as net assets released from restrictions. Revenues from earned income sources are recognized when delivery of goods or services has been rendered. De Minimis Rate Used: N Rate Explanation: The Garden has not elected to use the 10% de minimis indirect cost rate. The regulations and guidelines governing the preparation of Federal financial reports vary by Federal agency and among programs administered by the same agency. Accordingly, the amounts reported in the Federal financial reports do not necessarily agree with the amounts reported in the accompanying Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards, which is prepared as explained in Note 1 above.

Finding Details

Finding 2022-001
FINDING # - 2022-001 Internal Control ? SIGNIFICANT DEFICIENCY Compliance Requirement- Allowable Costs/Cost Principles 59.075 ? SBA ? Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) FEDERAL AGENCY: Small Business Administration (SBA) 1. CRITERIA In accordance with the Compliance Supplement, as part of the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) application process, the Garden submitted a Budget of Expenditures to the SBA through the SVOG Portal, which outlined the Garden?s planned use of SVOG funds. The Garden is required to reconcile the Budget of Expenditures to the Actual Expenditures allocated to the SVOG and provide it to the SBA. The Garden entered into this grant with the SVOG on July 7, 2021. The grant allows for reimbursement of costs from March 1, 2020 through December 31, 2021. 2. CONDITION/PERSPECTIVE The reconciliation of Expenditures, including the detail behind the actual amounts, had not been provided to the SBA at the time of our testing. The reconciliation and detail are to be provided to the SBA upon being selected for monitoring. During our testing, we noted the following: - 3 of our 60 Expenditure selections were determined to be incorrectly included in the SVOG Expenditure detail and had to be removed/replaced. - The Garden reevaluated the SVOG Expenditure details and identified additional Expenditures that did not meet the grant criteria for allowability. - Collectively, these errors are indicative of a significant internal control deficiency, and do not equate to a compliance finding as the SVOG Expenditure detail has not been submitted to the SBA and the Garden had additional Expenditures from January to May 2021, which met the criteria of allowability, that replaced the identified expenditure errors noted above. 3. CAUSE In FY22, the Garden had an ineffective control in place over the review of Expenditures allocated to the grant. This control was meant to ensure costs allocated to the SVOG Award were allowable. The control in place to review the Expenditures under the SVOG was not designed at a precise enough level to identify the errors that occurred and did not include a thorough review of the Expenditure details. 4. EFFECT Expenditures were included within the SVOG Expenditure details intended to be submitted to the SBA, which were either recorded at an incorrect amount or had to be updated or removed/replaced with other allowable Expenditures. 5. REPEAT FINDING No. 6. RECOMMENDATION We recommend the Garden put a more precise control in place over the review of Expenditures applied to grants and ensure a thorough review of the Expenditure detail is performed prior to the listing being finalized. 7. QUESTIONED COST None. 8. VIEWS OF RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL The Garden is in the process of performing a thorough review of the expenditures. A secondary review will be performed to improve the accuracy of the required supporting documentation. The program ended on December 31, 2021. Also see ?Corrective Action Plan."
Finding 2022-001
FINDING # - 2022-001 Internal Control ? SIGNIFICANT DEFICIENCY Compliance Requirement- Allowable Costs/Cost Principles 59.075 ? SBA ? Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) FEDERAL AGENCY: Small Business Administration (SBA) 1. CRITERIA In accordance with the Compliance Supplement, as part of the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) application process, the Garden submitted a Budget of Expenditures to the SBA through the SVOG Portal, which outlined the Garden?s planned use of SVOG funds. The Garden is required to reconcile the Budget of Expenditures to the Actual Expenditures allocated to the SVOG and provide it to the SBA. The Garden entered into this grant with the SVOG on July 7, 2021. The grant allows for reimbursement of costs from March 1, 2020 through December 31, 2021. 2. CONDITION/PERSPECTIVE The reconciliation of Expenditures, including the detail behind the actual amounts, had not been provided to the SBA at the time of our testing. The reconciliation and detail are to be provided to the SBA upon being selected for monitoring. During our testing, we noted the following: - 3 of our 60 Expenditure selections were determined to be incorrectly included in the SVOG Expenditure detail and had to be removed/replaced. - The Garden reevaluated the SVOG Expenditure details and identified additional Expenditures that did not meet the grant criteria for allowability. - Collectively, these errors are indicative of a significant internal control deficiency, and do not equate to a compliance finding as the SVOG Expenditure detail has not been submitted to the SBA and the Garden had additional Expenditures from January to May 2021, which met the criteria of allowability, that replaced the identified expenditure errors noted above. 3. CAUSE In FY22, the Garden had an ineffective control in place over the review of Expenditures allocated to the grant. This control was meant to ensure costs allocated to the SVOG Award were allowable. The control in place to review the Expenditures under the SVOG was not designed at a precise enough level to identify the errors that occurred and did not include a thorough review of the Expenditure details. 4. EFFECT Expenditures were included within the SVOG Expenditure details intended to be submitted to the SBA, which were either recorded at an incorrect amount or had to be updated or removed/replaced with other allowable Expenditures. 5. REPEAT FINDING No. 6. RECOMMENDATION We recommend the Garden put a more precise control in place over the review of Expenditures applied to grants and ensure a thorough review of the Expenditure detail is performed prior to the listing being finalized. 7. QUESTIONED COST None. 8. VIEWS OF RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL The Garden is in the process of performing a thorough review of the expenditures. A secondary review will be performed to improve the accuracy of the required supporting documentation. The program ended on December 31, 2021. Also see ?Corrective Action Plan."