Audit 380599

Finding No. 2024-001 Material Weakness over Compliance and Internal Control Over Compliance Related to Allowable Costs Federal Program: U.S. Department of Justice passed through Wisconsin Department of Justice ALN 16.575 VOCA funding.Condition: A review of non-payroll expenses identified that documentation of approval was not available. For example, invoices with comments were maintained and available for review, however the approval was not documented. For payroll expenses, an annual budget indicated that the payroll costs for the year were similar to the budgeted amounts, but the approved pay-rates for individuals were out of date. In addition, invoices or receipts could not be located to support five of the 25 expenditures selected for review. In addition, some cost reports that likely had been completed were not able to be found for review during audit fieldwork. Cause: The Organization had turnover in accounting staff in the outsourcing and internal departments and documentation historically maintained in the files was not able to be located. Effect: It was not possible for the auditor to verify that invoices were approved for payment, however, some invoices included various comments that could indicate they were viewed by other personnel. In addition, it was not possible for the auditor to verify that compensation paid to employees was based on approved rates. Questioned Costs: Unable to be determined. Prevalence: Prior audits did not indicate any exceptions in the maintaining of documentation and approvals in the files. This finding for the year ended December 31, 2024, appears to be specifically related to turnover of accounting staff. Repeated Finding: This is not a repeated finding. Recommendation to prevent future occurrences: It is recommended that management review the monitoring controls around document retention to determine that records and approvals are retained as required to comply with fund sources and best practices.