Audit 366799

2024-001 Inadequate Controls over Grant Reimbursement Requests Condition—Costs for certain concrete poles used in the pole replacement program were submitted for reimbursement on multiple invoices, resulting in duplicate reimbursement claims of $440,570. Criteria—In submitting the accounting records to the grantor, the City is required to certify that reported costs were incurred in performance of eligible work. Internal controls that ensure reported costs are eligible and accurate should adhere to Part 2 CFR Section 200.303 of the Uniform Guidance. Cause—The deficiency appears to result from the use of two different methods to identify eligible costs (costs from invoices received directly from a vendor and costs applied to project work orders) without an appropriate reconciliation between the two methods. Effect—The lack of reconciliation of eligible costs allowed the duplicated costs claims to go undetected. Recommendation—We recommend that management review control procedures to ensure expenses included in grant reports are identified by the use of a single methodology and reconciled to accounting records. When multiple methodologies are utilized, a reconciliation to all other invoices should also be performed.