Finding 2023-003 AL No.: 21.027 Program Title: COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Treasury Award Number/Year: 1505-0271 / 2021 Criteria: The Uniform Guidance requires that local entities receiving federal awards establish and maintain internal control designed to reasonably ensure compliance with laws, regulations and program compliance requirements. The Uniform Guidance further requires auditors to obtain an understanding of the local entity's internal control over federal programs. To minimize the risk of errors, internal controls should be in place for all program compliance requirements, including the approval of expenditures by a knowledgeable individual. Condition/Context: During testing, it was noted that five of the 17 expenditures selected for testing were not reviewed by management before being processed. Our sample was not statistically valid. Cause: The County did not have procedures in place requiring the maintenance of documentation to support the review of a transaction by an independent person. Questioned Costs: None noted. Effect: Costs for activities that are specifically not allowed or are prohibited by the federal statutes, regulations, or the terms and conditions of the federal award could be processed under the grant. Recommendation: We recommend that the County implement procedures requiring the maintenance of documentation to support the review of a transaction by an independent person. Management's Response: The finance department staff will work with departmental management and fiscal staff to review current documented and/or undocumented procedures, adopting and/or updating written procedures as necessary to ensure: • All assembled reports (typically prepared by fiscal staff) are reviewed for completeness and accuracy by independent personnel (typically a department head.) • Reports be submitted on a timely basis. • Reconciliation of data on each submitted reports to the financial statements. • Reconciliation of grant period-to-date cumulative data totals to the financial statements. Additionally, the county finance team will assemble and maintain a centralized file for all county grants, requiring grant administrators (fiscal staff or department heads) to report completion dates for mandated report filings. The county finance team will also maintain a centralized data file for all county grant filings and grant documents.
Finding 2023-003 AL No.: 21.027 Program Title: COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Treasury Award Number/Year: 1505-0271 / 2021 Criteria: The Uniform Guidance requires that local entities receiving federal awards establish and maintain internal control designed to reasonably ensure compliance with laws, regulations and program compliance requirements. The Uniform Guidance further requires auditors to obtain an understanding of the local entity's internal control over federal programs. To minimize the risk of errors, internal controls should be in place for all program compliance requirements, including the approval of expenditures by a knowledgeable individual. Condition/Context: During testing, it was noted that five of the 17 expenditures selected for testing were not reviewed by management before being processed. Our sample was not statistically valid. Cause: The County did not have procedures in place requiring the maintenance of documentation to support the review of a transaction by an independent person. Questioned Costs: None noted. Effect: Costs for activities that are specifically not allowed or are prohibited by the federal statutes, regulations, or the terms and conditions of the federal award could be processed under the grant. Recommendation: We recommend that the County implement procedures requiring the maintenance of documentation to support the review of a transaction by an independent person. Management's Response: The finance department staff will work with departmental management and fiscal staff to review current documented and/or undocumented procedures, adopting and/or updating written procedures as necessary to ensure: • All assembled reports (typically prepared by fiscal staff) are reviewed for completeness and accuracy by independent personnel (typically a department head.) • Reports be submitted on a timely basis. • Reconciliation of data on each submitted reports to the financial statements. • Reconciliation of grant period-to-date cumulative data totals to the financial statements. Additionally, the county finance team will assemble and maintain a centralized file for all county grants, requiring grant administrators (fiscal staff or department heads) to report completion dates for mandated report filings. The county finance team will also maintain a centralized data file for all county grant filings and grant documents.
Finding 2023-004 AL No.: 21.027 Program Title: COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Treasury Award Number/Year: 1505-0271 / 2021 Criteria: The Uniform Guidance requires that local entities receiving federal awards establish and maintain internal control designed to reasonably ensure compliance with laws, regulations and program compliance requirements. The Uniform Guidance further requires auditors to obtain an understanding of the local entity's internal control over federal programs. To minimize the risk of errors, internal controls should be in place for all program compliance requirements, including the preparation and submission of reports, which should be reviewed and approved by a responsible party other than the original preparer. Condition/Context: The County was unable to provide a transaction listing that reconciled to the amount of expenditures reported in the annual report for this program. The listing of eligible costs provided exceeded the reported amount by $487,765. Our sample was not statistically valid. Cause: The County did not have procedures in place to ensure the underlying records were in accordance with the required or stated criteria and methodology, including accuracy and completeness of the reports. Questioned Costs: None noted. Effect: Reports that contain errors could be submitted. Recommendation: We recommend that an employee other than the preparer ensure there is documentation available for all reported data before final submission of the report. Management's Response: The finance department staff will work with departmental management and fiscal staff to review current documented and/or undocumented procedures, adopting and/or updating written procedures as necessary to ensure: • All assembled reports (typically prepared by fiscal staff) are reviewed for completeness and accuracy by independent personnel (typically a department head.) • Reports be submitted on a timely basis. • Reconciliation of data on each submitted reports to the financial statements. • Reconciliation of grant period-to-date cumulative data totals to the financial statements. Additionally, the county finance team will assemble and maintain a centralized file for all county grants, requiring grant administrators (fiscal staff or department heads) to report completion dates for mandated report filings. The county finance team will also maintain a centralized data file for all county grant filings and grant documents.
Finding 2023-004 AL No.: 21.027 Program Title: COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Treasury Award Number/Year: 1505-0271 / 2021 Criteria: The Uniform Guidance requires that local entities receiving federal awards establish and maintain internal control designed to reasonably ensure compliance with laws, regulations and program compliance requirements. The Uniform Guidance further requires auditors to obtain an understanding of the local entity's internal control over federal programs. To minimize the risk of errors, internal controls should be in place for all program compliance requirements, including the preparation and submission of reports, which should be reviewed and approved by a responsible party other than the original preparer. Condition/Context: The County was unable to provide a transaction listing that reconciled to the amount of expenditures reported in the annual report for this program. The listing of eligible costs provided exceeded the reported amount by $487,765. Our sample was not statistically valid. Cause: The County did not have procedures in place to ensure the underlying records were in accordance with the required or stated criteria and methodology, including accuracy and completeness of the reports. Questioned Costs: None noted. Effect: Reports that contain errors could be submitted. Recommendation: We recommend that an employee other than the preparer ensure there is documentation available for all reported data before final submission of the report. Management's Response: The finance department staff will work with departmental management and fiscal staff to review current documented and/or undocumented procedures, adopting and/or updating written procedures as necessary to ensure: • All assembled reports (typically prepared by fiscal staff) are reviewed for completeness and accuracy by independent personnel (typically a department head.) • Reports be submitted on a timely basis. • Reconciliation of data on each submitted reports to the financial statements. • Reconciliation of grant period-to-date cumulative data totals to the financial statements. Additionally, the county finance team will assemble and maintain a centralized file for all county grants, requiring grant administrators (fiscal staff or department heads) to report completion dates for mandated report filings. The county finance team will also maintain a centralized data file for all county grant filings and grant documents.
Finding 2023-005 AL No.: 93.667 Program Title: Social Services Block Grant Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Pass-Through Agencies: Wisconsin Department of Children and Families and Wisconsin Department of Health Services Award Number/Year 561, 3561, 3681 / 2023 Criteria: The Uniform Guidance requires that local entities receiving federal awards establish and maintain internal controls designed to reasonably ensure compliance with laws, regulations and program compliance requirements. The Uniform Guidance further requires auditors to obtain an understanding of the local entity's internal control over federal programs. To minimize the risks of errors, internal controls should be in place for all program compliance requirements, including the approval and submission of reports by appropriate individuals. Condition/Context: There were 13 reports for submission for UCS and 26 reports for the County. Nine reports were selected for testing. There was no documentation of a review control by someone independent of the preparer for all 9 reports tested. In additions, the final County GEARS report was not submitted. Our sample was not statistically valid. Cause: The County did not have procedures in place requiring an independent person to review the reports before submission. Questioned Costs: None noted. Effect: Due to a lack of controls it was noted that the County did not capture the full value of their contract because they missed the final GEARS report deadline which resulted in a possible loss of approximately $42,000 in funding. Other reports without review could contain errors. Recommendation: We recommend that the County implement procedures for management to review reports required to be completed under the grant prior to submission. Management's Response: The finance department staff will work with departmental management and fiscal staff to review current documented and/or undocumented procedures, adopting and/or updating written procedures as necessary to ensure: • All assembled reports (typically prepared by fiscal staff) are reviewed for completeness and accuracy by independent personnel (typically a department head.) • Reports be submitted on a timely basis. • Reconciliation of data on each submitted reports to the financial statements. • Reconciliation of grant period-to-date cumulative data totals to the financial statements. Additionally, the county finance team will assemble and maintain a centralized file for all county grants, requiring grant administrators (fiscal staff or department heads) to report completion dates for mandated report filings. The county finance team will also maintain a centralized data file for all county grant filings and grant documents.
Finding 2023-005 AL No.: 93.667 Program Title: Social Services Block Grant Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Pass-Through Agencies: Wisconsin Department of Children and Families and Wisconsin Department of Health Services Award Number/Year 561, 3561, 3681 / 2023 Criteria: The Uniform Guidance requires that local entities receiving federal awards establish and maintain internal controls designed to reasonably ensure compliance with laws, regulations and program compliance requirements. The Uniform Guidance further requires auditors to obtain an understanding of the local entity's internal control over federal programs. To minimize the risks of errors, internal controls should be in place for all program compliance requirements, including the approval and submission of reports by appropriate individuals. Condition/Context: There were 13 reports for submission for UCS and 26 reports for the County. Nine reports were selected for testing. There was no documentation of a review control by someone independent of the preparer for all 9 reports tested. In additions, the final County GEARS report was not submitted. Our sample was not statistically valid. Cause: The County did not have procedures in place requiring an independent person to review the reports before submission. Questioned Costs: None noted. Effect: Due to a lack of controls it was noted that the County did not capture the full value of their contract because they missed the final GEARS report deadline which resulted in a possible loss of approximately $42,000 in funding. Other reports without review could contain errors. Recommendation: We recommend that the County implement procedures for management to review reports required to be completed under the grant prior to submission. Management's Response: The finance department staff will work with departmental management and fiscal staff to review current documented and/or undocumented procedures, adopting and/or updating written procedures as necessary to ensure: • All assembled reports (typically prepared by fiscal staff) are reviewed for completeness and accuracy by independent personnel (typically a department head.) • Reports be submitted on a timely basis. • Reconciliation of data on each submitted reports to the financial statements. • Reconciliation of grant period-to-date cumulative data totals to the financial statements. Additionally, the county finance team will assemble and maintain a centralized file for all county grants, requiring grant administrators (fiscal staff or department heads) to report completion dates for mandated report filings. The county finance team will also maintain a centralized data file for all county grant filings and grant documents.
Finding 2023-009 AL No.: 93.658 Program Title: Foster Care – Title IV-E Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Pass-Through Agencies: Wisconsin Department of Children and Families Award Number/Year 3413, 3561, 3681, 3645 / 2023 Criteria: The Uniform Guidance and State Single Audit Guidelines require that local entities receiving federal and state awards establish and maintain internal control designed to reasonably ensure compliance with laws, regulations and program compliance requirements. The Uniform Guidance and State Single Audit Guidelines further require auditors to obtain an understanding of the local entity's internal control over federal and state programs. To minimize the risk of errors, internal controls should be in place for all program compliance requirements, including the preparation and submission of monthly reports, which should be reviewed and approved by a responsible party other than the original preparer. Condition/Context: There were 13 reports for submission for the County. Three reports were selected for testing. There was no documentation of a review control by someone independent of the preparer for all three reports tested. Our sample was not statistically valid. Cause: The County did not have procedures in place requiring an independent person to review the reports before submission. Questioned Costs: None noted. Effect: Reports that contain errors could be submitted. Recommendation: We recommend that an employee other than the preparer review all reports before they are submitted to grantors. Management's Response: The finance department staff will work with departmental management and fiscal staff to review current documented and/or undocumented procedures, adopting and/or updating written procedures as necessary to ensure: • All assembled reports (typically prepared by fiscal staff) are reviewed for completeness and accuracy by independent personnel (typically a department head.) • Reports be submitted on a timely basis. • Reconciliation of data on each submitted reports to the financial statements. • Reconciliation of grant period-to-date cumulative data totals to the financial statements. Additionally, the county finance team will assemble and maintain a centralized file for all county grants, requiring grant administrators (fiscal staff or department heads) to report completion dates for mandated report filings. The county finance team will also maintain a centralized data file for all county grant filings and grant documents.