Finding Text
Finding Type - Significant deficiency in internal control over financial reporting Assistance Listing Number, Federal Agency, and Program Name - 10.553 and 10.555, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Child Nutrition Cluster Criteria - The School District must submit monthly claims for reimbursement for meals served to eligible students within 60 days following the last day of the month covered by the claim (7 CFR Sections 210.8, 220.11, 215.10, and 225.15 (c)). Upon preparation of meal reimbursement claims, the School District is required to have controls in place to ensure the accuracy of the request for reimbursement. Statement of Condition - The School District does not currently have a control in place for the review and approval of the meal counts entered into the MiND system. Cause and Effect - The Michigan Nutrition Data (MiND) system auto calculates the number of full paid meals after the district enters the total number of meals. Therefore, if the number of total meals is typed incorrectly, the difference automatically adds or subtracts to the number of full paid meals. As the School District does not currently have a control for the review and approval of the meal counts entered into the MiND system, this reporting risk could result in the School District inaccurately reporting meals for reimbursement. The absence of a review of the final data prior to submission, including the auto calculated data, in the MiND system could result in the School District being reimbursed for inaccurate amounts. Recommendation - The School District should implement a procedure where the monthly reimbursement request is reviewed and approval is documented to ensure the submission is mechanically accurate, in compliance with program requirements and that it agrees with the School District’s internal meal claims data report. Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Action Plan - After initial claim submission, the Student Nutrition Director will provide the MiStar support along with the claim summary to the District Accountant. The District Accountant will then review the claim for accuracy. If any issues are identified, the District Accountant will notify the Student Nutrition Director, who will then need to amend the claim. Any claim amendment will be submitted back to the District Accountant for review. Documentation of this review and the related reports will be maintained each month.