Audit 396137

2025-001 Internal Controls over Preparation of the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards and Reporting for Maine DHHS 93.044, 93.045, 93.053 Aging Cluster and Maine DHHS 93.778 Medical Assistance Program (Significant Deficiency in Internal Controls over Compliance and Noncompliance) Criteria: 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principals, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, £200.508(b) The auditee must prepare appropriate statements including an accurate Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA) in accordance with £200.510, Financial Statements. Federal reporting standards require the timely and accurate filing of reports as required by pass-through grantor agreements. Condition and Context: Agreement Closeout Report filed for the Agreement ADS-24-3355B (Medical Assistance Program) for the component period ended 9/30/24 was filed late by 3 days. Federal expenditures were understated for Agreement ADS-24-3355B (93.791 Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Demonstration) by $59,405 due to errors in reconciling grant reports to the SEFA. For the Agreement ADS-24-3004C reporting for the component period ended 9/30/24 contained inaccuracies resulting from budgeted percentage of expenses reimbursable by state and federal agreement funds. Cause: There is a gap in training and understanding of the instructions for the Maine DHHS Agreement Closeout Report and Quarterly Financial Report. There are insufficient internal controls over the preparation, review, and documentation process for the SEFA and supporting documents. Effect: The Agreement Closeout Report was filed 3 days late. Agreement Cost Sharing percentages were incorrectly used on reporting forms. Key information was omitted which prevented the quarterly reports from calculating the amounts due to or from the Agency. Errors in reporting can lead to issues in reconciling and tracking of awards earned and recognized in the financial statements. They could also lead to findings and corrective action with funders. Recommendation: Management should review their processes and procedures over preparation and review of reporting, and for tracking of reporting deadlines. Both the preparer and reviewer should have a clear understanding of the required elements and instructions. As part of the review, required elements should be vouched to original source documents including copies of awards, grant reports, and the trial balance profit and loss reports. Any inconsistencies should be resolved before submission. Management should consider training for staff tasked with completing, reviewing, and filing these reports. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: Management will review and update processes and procedures over reporting and additional training will be provided as needed to ensure accurate grant reporting and compliance.