Audit 389994

FY End
2025-08-31
Total Expended
$1.72M
Findings
10
Programs
9
Organization: La Academia De Estrellas (TX)
Year: 2025 Accepted: 2026-03-03

Organization Exclusion Status:

Checking exclusion status...

Findings

ID Ref Severity Repeat Requirement
1176175 2025-001 Material Weakness Yes AB
1176176 2025-002 Material Weakness Yes AB
1176177 2025-001 Material Weakness Yes AB
1176178 2025-002 Material Weakness Yes AB
1176179 2025-001 Material Weakness Yes AB
1176180 2025-002 Material Weakness Yes AB
1176181 2025-001 Material Weakness Yes AB
1176182 2025-002 Material Weakness Yes AB
1176183 2025-001 Material Weakness Yes AB
1176184 2025-002 Material Weakness Yes AB

Contacts

Name Title Type
HA7HVRUWJDV4 Kemlyn Williams Auditee
2149468908 Deanna Frisby Auditor
No contacts on file

Notes to SEFA

The accompanying schedule of expenditures of federal awards (Schedule) includes the federal grant activity of La Academia de Estrellas (School). 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 the School, it is not intended to and does not present the financial position, changes in net assets or cash flows of the School. Expenditures reported on the Schedule are reported on the accrual basis of accounting. Such expenditures are recognized following the cost principles in the Uniform Guidance, wherein certain types of expenditures are not allowable or are limited as to reimbursement. The School has not elected to use the 10 percent de minimis indirect cost rate as allowed under the Uniform Guidance and continues to use the allowable indirect costs for each award as determined by the awarding agency.
The School received non-cash awards in the form of food commodities totaling $35,119 during the year ended August 31, 2025.
The School received federal revenue totaling $2,555 that was not subject to the audit requirements of the Uniform Guidance and therefore was not included in the Schedule.

Finding Details

Finding 2025-001: Allowable cost and activities - Significant deficiency in internal controls over compliance. Child Nutrition Cluster ALN 10.555/10.553 Criteria: Section 200 of the Code of Federal Regulations requires recipients to implement robust internal controls to reduce the risk of noncompliance with cost principles for all activities allocated to the grant. Condition: During allowable cost and activities other cost testing for the program, 9 out of 40 samples did not include approval of the invoice prior to being allocated to the grant activities. Cause: Prior to March 2025, the School did not have a standard procedure in place to ensure proper controls over allowable costs and activities allocated to federal grants. Effect: Internal controls over the program were not properly designed to reduce the risk of noncompliance with Federal Regulation Questioned costs: None. Recommendation: In order to comply with the Code of Federal Regulations, we recommend the school implement a prior approval process of all grant expenditures. In addition, support of approval should be documented kept on file. Management’s response: See corrective action plan, which was implemented in March 2025.
Finding 2025-002: Allowable cost and activities - Significant deficiency in internal controls over compliance. Child Nutrition Cluster ALN 10.555/10.553 Criteria: Section 200 of the Code of Federal Regulations requires recipients to implement robust internal controls to reduce the risk of noncompliance with cost principles for all activities allocated to the grant and to retain supporting documentation of control completion for three years from the date of submission of the expenditure request. Condition: During allowable cost and activities payroll testing for the program, the auditor noted that documentation of key control was not retained on file. Management ultimately obtained documentation of the control through a third-party service provider. Cause: Documentation and retention of key controls were not considered when designing the payroll process. Effect: Key internal control documentation was not properly retained and readily available to support the testing of key controls over the payroll process. Questioned costs: None Recommendation: In order to comply with the Code of Federal Regulations, we recommend the school’s policies be updated to require document retention for at least three years for all key control documentation. Management’s response: See corrective action plan.