FINDING 2022-003 Subject: Special Education Cluster ? Activities Allowed or Unallowed, Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Audit Findings: Material Weakness Condition: An effective internal control system was not in place at the School Corporation in order to ensure compliance with requirements relate...
FINDING 2022-003 Subject: Special Education Cluster ? Activities Allowed or Unallowed, Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Audit Findings: Material Weakness Condition: An effective internal control system was not in place at the School Corporation in order to ensure compliance with requirements related to the grant agreement and the Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles compliance requirements. Context: The School Corporation is a member of a joint service cooperative (Cooperative). The Cooperative operated the special education programs on behalf of the School Corporation and managed the special education grant funds. Because the grant agreements were between the Indiana Department of Education and the School Corporation, the School Corporation was ultimately responsible for compliance with the grant agreement and the Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles compliance requirements. During fiscal year 2021, the School Corporation paid membership fees to the Cooperative out of federal Special Education funds. These membership fees made up approximately 48% of the total federal expenditures reimbursed during fiscal year 2021. The Cooperative accounted for state, local, and federal funds in a single fund. The fund did not separately account for each of the funding sources. This made it difficult to identify which expenditures were from federal funds, or to identify expenditures by federal program, award number, or years. Therefore, we could not test compliance for approximately 48% of the expenditures. The lack of internal controls and noncompliance were systemic issues, which occurred specifically during fiscal year 2021. No reportable findings were noted for fiscal year 2022. During fiscal year 2022, the School Corporation started paying membership fees to the Cooperative out of the General Education fund instead of the Special Education funds. All sampled expenditures paid from Special Education funds and requested for reimbursement were determined to be allowable under the Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles compliance requirements. Views of Responsible Official: We concur with the finding. Description of Corrective Action Plan: Members of the cooperative are no longer paying their cooperative member fees with federal funds. This was resolved effective 7/1/2021. Responsible Party and Timeline for Completion: Zach Dennis, CFO, 7/1/2021