2022-027 Oregon Housing and Community Services Ensure Monthly and Quarterly reports are accurate and adequately supported Federal Awarding Agency: U.S. Department of the Treasury Assistance Listing Number and Name: 21.023 Emergency Rental Assistance Program (COVID-19) Federal Award Numbers and Ye...
2022-027 Oregon Housing and Community Services Ensure Monthly and Quarterly reports are accurate and adequately supported Federal Awarding Agency: U.S. Department of the Treasury Assistance Listing Number and Name: 21.023 Emergency Rental Assistance Program (COVID-19) Federal Award Numbers and Years: ERA 1, 2021; ERA 2, 2021 (COVID-19) Compliance Requirement: Reporting Type of Finding: Material Weakness; Material Noncompliance Prior Year Finding: N/A Questioned Costs: N/A Criteria: 2 CFR 200.302(a) and (b)(3); 2 CFR 200.303(a), (c)-(d) Department management is responsible for establishing and maintaining effective internal control that provides reasonable assurance the department is managing, evaluating, and monitoring the federal award in compliance with the terms and conditions of the award and taking prompt action when instances of noncompliance are identified. Additionally, the department is responsible for maintaining records to allow for submission of reports that are accurate and adequately supported. We tested four randomly selected monthly reports and found one report did not accurately report the number of unique households assisted and the amount of the assistance based on the supporting documentation. The department stated the differences were likely due to a transition in subsystem reporting formats and delays in report processing. We tested four quarterly reports, two of which were randomly selected and two of which were judgmentally selected. We found one report where the cumulative obligation amount did not agree to supporting documentation and were not accurate, and one report where the cumulative obligation and cumulative expenditures amounts did not agree to supporting documentation and were not accurate. The department stated these errors were due to erroneously entered information in the federal awarding agency?s reporting portal. Information included in these reports is used by the federal awarding agency to determine whether the department qualifies for receiving reallocation payments, as well as how much of a reallocation would be awarded to the department. Errors in these reports could result in errors in the federal awarding agency?s determination of eligibility for funding, and/or the reallocation formula. We recommend department management update and correct erroneous reports and establish controls to ensure reported amounts are accurate and adequately supported. MANAGEMENT RESPONSE: We agree with this recommendation. Numerous Community Action Agencies (CAAs), after months of exponential growth in program resources without time to strategize and scale operations, reported major capacity issues a chronic backup of applications at the local level. OHCS took the unprecedented step to augment CAA staff to contract with a third-party vendor to clear the backlog. This approach rapidly increased production and moved the federal program closer in line with the state?s then 60-day safe harbor period but came with additional monitoring and reporting challenges. OHCS did meet the reporting timelines and requirements of US Treasury. OHCS relied on information within the applicant tracking system that does have some discrepancies when compared to our accounting records. These discrepancies are due to various factors such as dates within the system causing application activity to be pulled into the reporting detail more than once, or the application tracking system not being updated with the most current payment record information by some grantees disbursing payments. These variances were overcome by relying on our accounting system and records as a control source of actual disbursements. During the audit, it was brought to our attention that the compilation of the application tracking system data at a point in time was not stored to demonstrate the reconciliation with the accounting information. SOS was then not able to verify the application tracking system data figures in one monthly reporting instance that were used to support the numbers reported to US Treasury as the file had likely been overridden. Similarly in one instance, the quarterly cumulative report was also impacted, however future cumulative figures were reported correctly. Corrective action plan: While OHCS submitted monthly and quarterly reports since program inception that include program and fiscal information, we acknowledge that there were some discrepancies between systems when one file was overridden with new information and one other file contained an error. We have taken steps to ensure data integrity and records retention moving forward and future compilations of the application tracking system data will be stored to support the point in time reconciliations and figures reported to US Treasury. One quarterly report will also be refiled if allowable by US Treasury to ensure quarterly figures reported are accurate. Data integrity is of the utmost importance to the agency, and we appreciate the thorough review by the auditing team. Anticipated Completion Date: June 30, 2023 Contact: Beth Brown, Accounting Manager