Finding Text
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Federal Program Name: Special Education Cluster
Assistance Listing Number: 84.027 and 84.173
Federal Award Identification Number and Year: H027A220087, 2023
Pass-Through Agency: Minnesota Department of Education
Pass-Through Numbers: H027A210087, H027X210087, H173A210086, H173X210086
Award Period: July 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023
Type of Finding: Material Weakness in Internal Control Over Compliance and Compliance Finding (Modified Opinion)
Criteria or Specific Requirement: The Uniform Guidance requires charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. In addition, these records must be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated, be incorporated into the official records of the entity, and reasonable reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated.
Condition: During our testing of a sample of payroll transactions charged to the grant we noted not all transactions were supported by properly approved documentation.
Context: Of a sample of 40 payroll disbursements charged to the grant we noted 26 disbursements without supporting time and effort documentation.
Questioned Costs: None.
Cause: The District did not have proper control processes in place to ensure time and effort documentation was being retained, reviewed and approved.
Effect: The District was not in compliance with the Uniform Guidance requirements around cost principles and time and effort documentation.
Repeat Finding: This is a repeat finding.
Recommendation: We recommend the District reviews its procedures and controls over payroll to ensure supporting documentation for time & effort is retained, reviewed and approved for all employees.
Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.