Finding 1062426 (2023-003)

Significant Deficiency Repeat Finding
Requirement
P
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2023
Accepted
2024-09-06
Audit: 318702
Organization: City of Quincy, Illinois (IL)

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The City is not reconciling grants throughout the year, leading to numerous adjustments needed at year-end.
  • Impacted Requirements: Accurate representation of grant activity is essential for reliable financial statements prior to audit fieldwork.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Establish a central process for grant activity between the Comptroller and Treasurer’s Offices, ensuring monthly reconciliations and communication between departments.

Finding Text

Finding 2023-003: Grant Reporting, Reconciliation, and Monitoring Condition: During audit fieldwork, we noted that the City does not reconcile grants throughout the fiscal year, thus requiring many journal entries to properly adjust revenues and record grant accruals and deferrals at year-end. Criteria: A good system of internal controls would provide for accurate representation of grant activity for all City accounts prior to audit fieldwork. Cause: Year-end preparation of grant lead sheets and detailed schedules were required to be completed by the auditors to correctly and accurately reflect the City’s grant activity for the fiscal year. Effect: The City’s financial statements were not correctly reconciled and adjusted prior to fieldwork as a result of the unreconciled grant activity. Recommendation: A vital process of effective internal controls is to review grant activity throughout the fiscal year and adjust as necessary for any receivables that are outstanding and to include any payable for invoices incurred during the year but paid after fiscal year end in order to properly state the City’s grant expenditures and revenue activity for the fiscal year. Corrective Action Plan: We recommend that the City Comptroller’s Office and the Treasurer’s Office act together as a central location for grant activity. As it stands currently, each department is responsible for the grant application, authorization, and reporting of grant activity. This has led to a breakdown in communication between the departments and the Treasurer and Comptroller’s Offices, where information was recorded to the ledger, but reconciliations were not being performed throughout the year to properly display the City’s grant expenditure and revenue activity. While Departments may manage their own grants, it is important that a consistent reconciliation is completed monthly and is reviewed by the Comptroller and Treasurer’s Office for use in preparation of monthly and year-end financial statements.

Categories

Subrecipient Monitoring Reporting Internal Control / Segregation of Duties

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 485982 2023-001
    Material Weakness
  • 485983 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 485984 2023-003
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 485985 2023-004
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1062424 2023-001
    Material Weakness
  • 1062425 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1062427 2023-004
    Significant Deficiency

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
21.027 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds $2.72M
20.509 Formula Grants for Rural Areas and Tribal Transit Program $274,802
20.106 Airport Improvement Program $189,028
16.710 Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Grants $32,273
16.738 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program $16,041
20.600 State and Community Highway Safety $14,674
97.067 Homeland Security Grant Program $5,449