Finding 2023-039 – Corrective Action Plan
Auditee Views:
The charging of a former employee’s payroll costs in full to SFRF for five pay periods after the employee separated from service in the Pandemic Recovery Office (PRO) was not due to any errors or omissions on the part of PRO. PRO never inclu...
Finding 2023-039 – Corrective Action Plan
Auditee Views:
The charging of a former employee’s payroll costs in full to SFRF for five pay periods after the employee separated from service in the Pandemic Recovery Office (PRO) was not due to any errors or omissions on the part of PRO. PRO never included this employee on the Master Time Sheet for the office in any of these pay periods nor did PRO review and approve the timesheets of this employee during the five pay periods in question. All necessary actions were taken by PRO to demonstrate that the employee in question was no longer an employee of PRO and the failure to pay this employee from the proper account (not SFRF) lies with the entity that is responsible for the processing of the Department of Administration’s payroll and not PRO.
The employee within the Division of Purchases was a Division of Purchases FTE that was dedicated to SFRF. SFRF was used to pay this employee, but the employee did not appear on the Pandemic Recovery Office’s (PRO) Master Time Sheet because they were not a PRO FTE. This employee did show up on the Division of Purchases Master Time Sheet and their timesheets were reviewed and approved by Division of Purchases supervisory staff to ensure that only time and effort dedicated to SFRF were paid for by SFRF. The Director of PRO acknowledges that they had a responsibility to review and approve the timesheet of this employee and did not do so. It would not be possible, however, for PRO to include this employee on PRO’s Master Time Sheet as the employee was not an FTE in PRO.
The current policies relating to timesheet collection are not within the control of the Pandemic Recovery Office (PRO). PRO is an office within the Department of Administration and adheres to the timesheet protocols for the department, including, but not limited to, timesheet collection. As part of these departmental protocols, every employee must submit an amended timesheet on the Monday following the workweek for which the timesheet is submitted to accurately reflect the actual hours worked should that be different from those recorded on the original timesheet submission. Amended timesheets are reviewed by the Director of PRO for accuracy before final submission. Thus, PRO supervisory reviews of time and effort reporting are accurate and complete under current DOA time sheet protocols.
Corrective Actions:
Request report from payroll team and conduct regular reconciliation and monitoring of payroll charges to PRO records to improve documentation and support for personnel costs charged to federal programs.
The State’s new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system will have improved approval controls and timeliness of reporting for time and effort of employees. Implementation of the ERP system should resolve any other issues that impact time and effort reporting by employees and the subsequent review of such time and effort reporting by PRO supervisory staff.
Anticipated Completion Date: July 1, 2025
Contact Person: Paul L. Dion, Ph.D., Director, Pandemic Recovery Office, Department of Administration
paul.l.dion@doa.ri.gov