Audit 378149

FY End
2021-06-30
Total Expended
$5.45M
Findings
6
Programs
10
Organization: STOP INC (VA)
Year: 2021 Accepted: 2025-12-30
Auditor: PBMARES LLP

Organization Exclusion Status:

Checking exclusion status...

Findings

ID Ref Severity Repeat Requirement
1167050 2021-004 Material Weakness Yes ABH
1167051 2021-005 Material Weakness Yes E
1167052 2021-006 Material Weakness Yes ABH
1167053 2021-007 Material Weakness Yes E
1167054 2021-008 Material Weakness Yes ABH
1167055 2021-009 Material Weakness Yes E

Contacts

Name Title Type
W8J5UMBJB7D5 Michelle Bryant Auditee
7578581377 Shawn Middleton Auditor
No contacts on file

Notes to SEFA

The accompanying Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (the Schedule) includes the federal award activity of STOP Inc. under programs of the federal government for the year ended June 30, 2021. 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 (Uniform Guidance). Because the Schedule presents only a selected portion of the operations of STOP Inc., it is not intended to and does not present the financial position, change in net assets, or cash flows of STOP Inc.
Expenditures reported on the Schedule are reported on the accrual basis of accounting. Such expenditures are recognized following the cost principles contained in the Uniform Guidance, wherein certain types of expenditures are not allowable or are limited as to reimbursement.
STOP Inc. has not elected to use the 10 percent de minimis indirect cost rate as allowed under the Uniform Guidance.
Pass-through numbers are shown in the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards when provided.

Finding Details

Finding 2021-004 Noncompliance with Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles and Period of Performance Finding 2021-005 Noncompliance with Eligibility Compliance Requirements: • Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles – Per 2 CFR 200.303, the auditee must establish and maintain effective internal control over federal awards and Per 2 CFR 200.403, costs must be necessary, reasonable, allocable, and authorized consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally financed and other activities. The costs must also occur during the proper grant period of performance. • Eligibility – Per 2 CFR 200.303 and 2 CFR 200.331, the auditee must establish and maintain internal controls to ensure that only eligible individuals, organizations, or activities receive assistance under federal awards. Criteria: An effective system of internal control over compliance requires that expenditures charged to federal awards be supported by adequate documentation and approvals to demonstrate that: • Costs are necessary, reasonable, allocable, and allowable under program requirements, and recorded properly and in the correct period. • Expenditures are for activities permitted under the terms and conditions of the award. • Expenditures are reviewed and monitored. • Participants or beneficiaries meet eligibility requirements. Condition: During our testing of expenditures and program activity for the federal program, we identified multiple instances in which transactions lacked adequate supporting documentation to demonstrate compliance with the above requirements. Specifically: • CSBG – ALN 93.569: Of the sixty expense transactions tested over CSBG, three did not have corresponding support or documentation to verify they were allowable activities, allowable costs, and they were recognized in the correct period. Specifically, invoices, purchase orders, or timesheets were missing, incomplete, or did not adequately substantiate the expenditures charged to the federal award. • During our testing, we identified an instance where 1 transaction was processed without proper documented approvals - 1 transaction totaling $842.40 • During testing of participant files over CSBG, we noted that 15 out of 60 client files could not be located, which did not allow us to properly determine if these participants were in fact eligible to be served under this program. Cause: The lack of documentation was primarily due to inadequate internal control procedures over record retention and verification. Additionally, there was significant turnover which contributed to inconsistent documentation practices. Effect or Potential Effect: Without sufficient supporting documentation and approvals, the Organization cannot demonstrate that: • Expenditures were for allowable activities. • Costs charged were necessary, reasonable, and allocable and recorded in the proper period. • Costs are reviewed and monitored. • Participants or beneficiaries met eligibility requirements. Questioned costs: Due to insufficient documentation, the amount of questioned costs could not be determined. Recommendation: We recommend the Organization strengthen its compliance-related internal controls by: • Requiring standardized documentation to support compliance with each requirement. • Implementing periodic reviews of documentation completeness before charging costs to federal awards. • Providing training to staff responsible for grant management on compliance and record retention requirements. • Retain all documentation related to federal awards in a central location. • Reinforcing the approval process by documenting and communicating approval requirements to all staff involved in initiating and processing transactions, providing mandatory training to employees on expense authorization policies, and establishing monitoring procedures to ensure approvals are consistently documented before transactions are processed. Views of responsible officials: Management agrees with the finding and the recommendation. Corrective action plan: See Management’s Corrective Action Plan (Unaudited).
Finding 2021-004 Noncompliance with Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles and Period of Performance Finding 2021-005 Noncompliance with Eligibility Compliance Requirements: • Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles – Per 2 CFR 200.303, the auditee must establish and maintain effective internal control over federal awards and Per 2 CFR 200.403, costs must be necessary, reasonable, allocable, and authorized consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally financed and other activities. The costs must also occur during the proper grant period of performance. • Eligibility – Per 2 CFR 200.303 and 2 CFR 200.331, the auditee must establish and maintain internal controls to ensure that only eligible individuals, organizations, or activities receive assistance under federal awards. Criteria: An effective system of internal control over compliance requires that expenditures charged to federal awards be supported by adequate documentation and approvals to demonstrate that: • Costs are necessary, reasonable, allocable, and allowable under program requirements, and recorded properly and in the correct period. • Expenditures are for activities permitted under the terms and conditions of the award. • Expenditures are reviewed and monitored. • Participants or beneficiaries meet eligibility requirements. Condition: During our testing of expenditures and program activity for the federal program, we identified multiple instances in which transactions lacked adequate supporting documentation to demonstrate compliance with the above requirements. Specifically: • CSBG – ALN 93.569: Of the sixty expense transactions tested over CSBG, three did not have corresponding support or documentation to verify they were allowable activities, allowable costs, and they were recognized in the correct period. Specifically, invoices, purchase orders, or timesheets were missing, incomplete, or did not adequately substantiate the expenditures charged to the federal award. • During our testing, we identified an instance where 1 transaction was processed without proper documented approvals - 1 transaction totaling $842.40 • During testing of participant files over CSBG, we noted that 15 out of 60 client files could not be located, which did not allow us to properly determine if these participants were in fact eligible to be served under this program. Cause: The lack of documentation was primarily due to inadequate internal control procedures over record retention and verification. Additionally, there was significant turnover which contributed to inconsistent documentation practices. Effect or Potential Effect: Without sufficient supporting documentation and approvals, the Organization cannot demonstrate that: • Expenditures were for allowable activities. • Costs charged were necessary, reasonable, and allocable and recorded in the proper period. • Costs are reviewed and monitored. • Participants or beneficiaries met eligibility requirements. Questioned costs: Due to insufficient documentation, the amount of questioned costs could not be determined. Recommendation: We recommend the Organization strengthen its compliance-related internal controls by: • Requiring standardized documentation to support compliance with each requirement. • Implementing periodic reviews of documentation completeness before charging costs to federal awards. • Providing training to staff responsible for grant management on compliance and record retention requirements. • Retain all documentation related to federal awards in a central location. • Reinforcing the approval process by documenting and communicating approval requirements to all staff involved in initiating and processing transactions, providing mandatory training to employees on expense authorization policies, and establishing monitoring procedures to ensure approvals are consistently documented before transactions are processed. Views of responsible officials: Management agrees with the finding and the recommendation. Corrective action plan: See Management’s Corrective Action Plan (Unaudited).
Finding 2021-006 Noncompliance with Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles and Period of Performance Finding 2021-007 Noncompliance with Eligibility Compliance Requirements: • Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles – Per 2 CFR 200.303, the auditee must establish and maintain effective internal control over federal awards and Per 2 CFR 200.403, costs must be necessary, reasonable, allocable, and authorized consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally financed and other activities. The costs must also occur during the proper grant period of performance. • Eligibility – Per 2 CFR 200.303 and 2 CFR 200.331, the auditee must establish and maintain internal controls to ensure that only eligible individuals, organizations, or activities receive assistance under federal awards. Criteria: An effective system of internal control over compliance requires that expenditures charged to federal awards be supported by adequate documentation to demonstrate that: • Costs are necessary, reasonable, allocable, and allowable under program requirements and recorded in the proper period. • Expenditures are for activities permitted under the terms and conditions of the award and recorded properly. • Expenditures are reviewed and monitored. • Participants or beneficiaries meet eligibility requirements. Condition: During our testing of expenditures and program activity for the federal program, we identified multiple instances in which transactions lacked adequate supporting documentation to demonstrate compliance with the above requirements. Specifically: • TANF – ALN 93.558: Of the sixty expense transactions tested over TANF, two did not have corresponding support or documentation to verify they were allowable activities and allowable costs. Specifically, invoices, purchase orders, or timesheets were missing, incomplete, or did not adequately substantiate the expenditures charged to the federal award in the proper period. • During our testing, we identified an instance where 8 transactions were processed without proper documented approvals - 8 transaction totaling $12,694.19 • During testing of participant files over TANF, we noted that five out of 60 client files could not be located, which did not allow us to properly determine if these participants were in fact eligible to be served under this program. Cause: The lack of documentation was primarily due to inadequate internal control procedures over record retention and verification. Additionally, there was significant turnover which contributed to inconsistent documentation practices. Effect or Potential Effect: Without sufficient supporting documentation, the Organization cannot demonstrate that: • Expenditures were for allowable activities. • Costs charged were necessary, reasonable, and allocable and recorded properly. • Expenditures were reviewed and monitored. • Participants or beneficiaries met eligibility requirements. Questioned costs: Due to insufficient documentation, the amount of questioned costs could not be determined. Recommendation: We recommend the Organization strengthen its compliance-related internal controls by: • Requiring standardized documentation to support compliance with each requirement. • Implementing periodic reviews of documentation completeness before charging costs to federal awards. • Providing training to staff responsible for grant management on compliance and record retention requirements. • Retain all documentation related to federal awards in a central location. • Reinforcing the approval process by documenting and communicating approval requirements to all staff involved in initiating and processing transactions, providing mandatory training to employees on expense authorization policies, and establishing monitoring procedures to ensure approvals are consistently documented before transactions are processed. Views of responsible officials: Management agrees with the finding and the recommendation. Corrective action plan: See Management’s Corrective Action Plan (Unaudited).
Finding 2021-006 Noncompliance with Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles and Period of Performance Finding 2021-007 Noncompliance with Eligibility Compliance Requirements: • Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles – Per 2 CFR 200.303, the auditee must establish and maintain effective internal control over federal awards and Per 2 CFR 200.403, costs must be necessary, reasonable, allocable, and authorized consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally financed and other activities. The costs must also occur during the proper grant period of performance. • Eligibility – Per 2 CFR 200.303 and 2 CFR 200.331, the auditee must establish and maintain internal controls to ensure that only eligible individuals, organizations, or activities receive assistance under federal awards. Criteria: An effective system of internal control over compliance requires that expenditures charged to federal awards be supported by adequate documentation to demonstrate that: • Costs are necessary, reasonable, allocable, and allowable under program requirements and recorded in the proper period. • Expenditures are for activities permitted under the terms and conditions of the award and recorded properly. • Expenditures are reviewed and monitored. • Participants or beneficiaries meet eligibility requirements. Condition: During our testing of expenditures and program activity for the federal program, we identified multiple instances in which transactions lacked adequate supporting documentation to demonstrate compliance with the above requirements. Specifically: • TANF – ALN 93.558: Of the sixty expense transactions tested over TANF, two did not have corresponding support or documentation to verify they were allowable activities and allowable costs. Specifically, invoices, purchase orders, or timesheets were missing, incomplete, or did not adequately substantiate the expenditures charged to the federal award in the proper period. • During our testing, we identified an instance where 8 transactions were processed without proper documented approvals - 8 transaction totaling $12,694.19 • During testing of participant files over TANF, we noted that five out of 60 client files could not be located, which did not allow us to properly determine if these participants were in fact eligible to be served under this program. Cause: The lack of documentation was primarily due to inadequate internal control procedures over record retention and verification. Additionally, there was significant turnover which contributed to inconsistent documentation practices. Effect or Potential Effect: Without sufficient supporting documentation, the Organization cannot demonstrate that: • Expenditures were for allowable activities. • Costs charged were necessary, reasonable, and allocable and recorded properly. • Expenditures were reviewed and monitored. • Participants or beneficiaries met eligibility requirements. Questioned costs: Due to insufficient documentation, the amount of questioned costs could not be determined. Recommendation: We recommend the Organization strengthen its compliance-related internal controls by: • Requiring standardized documentation to support compliance with each requirement. • Implementing periodic reviews of documentation completeness before charging costs to federal awards. • Providing training to staff responsible for grant management on compliance and record retention requirements. • Retain all documentation related to federal awards in a central location. • Reinforcing the approval process by documenting and communicating approval requirements to all staff involved in initiating and processing transactions, providing mandatory training to employees on expense authorization policies, and establishing monitoring procedures to ensure approvals are consistently documented before transactions are processed. Views of responsible officials: Management agrees with the finding and the recommendation. Corrective action plan: See Management’s Corrective Action Plan (Unaudited).
Finding 2021-008 Noncompliance with Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles and Period of Performance Finding 2021-009 Noncompliance with Eligibility Compliance Requirements: • Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles – Per 2 CFR 200.303, the auditee must establish and maintain effective internal control over federal awards and per 2 CFR 200.403, costs must be necessary, reasonable, allocable, and authorized consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally financed and other activities. The costs must also occur during the proper grant period of performance. • Eligibility – Per 2 CFR 200.303 and 2 CFR 200.331, the auditee must establish and maintain internal controls to ensure that only eligible individuals, organizations, or activities receive assistance under federal awards. Criteria: An effective system of internal control over compliance requires that expenditures charged to federal awards be supported by adequate documentation to demonstrate that: • Costs are necessary, reasonable, allocable, and allowable under program requirements. • Expenditures are for activities permitted under the terms and conditions of the award and recorded properly. • Participants or beneficiaries meet eligibility requirements. Condition: During our testing of expenditures and program activity for the federal program, we identified multiple instances in which transactions lacked adequate supporting documentation to demonstrate compliance with the above requirements. Specifically: • SSVF – ALN 64.033: Of the sixty expense transactions tested over SSVF, four did not have corresponding support or documentation to verify they were allowable activities, allowable costs, and recognized in the correct period. Specifically, invoices, purchase orders, or timesheets were missing, incomplete, or did not adequately substantiate the expenditures charged to the federal award. During testing of SSVF participant files, we noted that 13 out of 60 client files could not be located or were missing required documentation within their file, which did not allow us to properly determine if these participants were in fact eligible to be served under this program. Cause: The lack of documentation was primarily due to inadequate internal control procedures over record retention and verification. Additionally, there was significant turnover which contributed to inconsistent documentation practices. Effect or Potential Effect: Without sufficient supporting documentation, the Organization cannot demonstrate that: • Expenditures were for allowable activities. • Costs charged were necessary, reasonable, and allocable and recorded properly. • Participants or beneficiaries met eligibility requirements. Questioned costs: Due to insufficient documentation, the amount of questioned costs could not be determined. Recommendation: We recommend the Organization strengthen its compliance-related internal controls by: • Requiring standardized documentation to support compliance with each requirement. • Implementing periodic reviews of documentation completeness before charging costs to federal awards. • Providing training to staff responsible for grant management on compliance and record retention requirements. • Retain all documentation related to federal awards in a central location. Views of responsible officials: Management agrees with the finding and the recommendation. Corrective action plan: See Management’s Corrective Action Plan (Unaudited).
Finding 2021-008 Noncompliance with Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles and Period of Performance Finding 2021-009 Noncompliance with Eligibility Compliance Requirements: • Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles – Per 2 CFR 200.303, the auditee must establish and maintain effective internal control over federal awards and per 2 CFR 200.403, costs must be necessary, reasonable, allocable, and authorized consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally financed and other activities. The costs must also occur during the proper grant period of performance. • Eligibility – Per 2 CFR 200.303 and 2 CFR 200.331, the auditee must establish and maintain internal controls to ensure that only eligible individuals, organizations, or activities receive assistance under federal awards. Criteria: An effective system of internal control over compliance requires that expenditures charged to federal awards be supported by adequate documentation to demonstrate that: • Costs are necessary, reasonable, allocable, and allowable under program requirements. • Expenditures are for activities permitted under the terms and conditions of the award and recorded properly. • Participants or beneficiaries meet eligibility requirements. Condition: During our testing of expenditures and program activity for the federal program, we identified multiple instances in which transactions lacked adequate supporting documentation to demonstrate compliance with the above requirements. Specifically: • SSVF – ALN 64.033: Of the sixty expense transactions tested over SSVF, four did not have corresponding support or documentation to verify they were allowable activities, allowable costs, and recognized in the correct period. Specifically, invoices, purchase orders, or timesheets were missing, incomplete, or did not adequately substantiate the expenditures charged to the federal award. During testing of SSVF participant files, we noted that 13 out of 60 client files could not be located or were missing required documentation within their file, which did not allow us to properly determine if these participants were in fact eligible to be served under this program. Cause: The lack of documentation was primarily due to inadequate internal control procedures over record retention and verification. Additionally, there was significant turnover which contributed to inconsistent documentation practices. Effect or Potential Effect: Without sufficient supporting documentation, the Organization cannot demonstrate that: • Expenditures were for allowable activities. • Costs charged were necessary, reasonable, and allocable and recorded properly. • Participants or beneficiaries met eligibility requirements. Questioned costs: Due to insufficient documentation, the amount of questioned costs could not be determined. Recommendation: We recommend the Organization strengthen its compliance-related internal controls by: • Requiring standardized documentation to support compliance with each requirement. • Implementing periodic reviews of documentation completeness before charging costs to federal awards. • Providing training to staff responsible for grant management on compliance and record retention requirements. • Retain all documentation related to federal awards in a central location. Views of responsible officials: Management agrees with the finding and the recommendation. Corrective action plan: See Management’s Corrective Action Plan (Unaudited).