Finding Text
Finding 2023-002: Reporting
Federal Program Information: Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Grants, ALN #16.710
Criteria: According to the grant agreement, to assist the COPS Office in monitoring and tracking the performance of the award, the City is responsible for submitting semi-annual programmatic progress reports that describe project activities during the reporting period and quarterly Federal Financial Reports using Standard Form 425 (SF-425).
Condition: The quarterly reports that were filed did not contain all expenses related to the grant.
Context: The progress report is used to track the City’s progress toward implementing community policing strategies and to collect data to gauge the effectiveness of increasing the City’s community policing capacity through COPS Office funding. There was no formal review process in place for the performance reports. The reports are completed by the Police department grant facilitator who receives input from the Police Chief or the Assistant Police Chief but no formal documentation.
The Federal Financial Report is used to track the expenditures of the recipient’s award funds on a cumulative basis throughout the life of the award. The cumulative amount of the federal share of expenditures was under-reported on the quarterly reports that were filed during the fiscal year. All expenditures were not included within the total. This incorrectly calculated on the report the amount of the unobligated balance of the grant. The City resubmitted the reports when the error was identified.
Questioned Cost: None
Effect: The quarterly reporting understated the expenditures for the grant and overstated the unobligated balance.
Cause: The preparer of the report was unaware that the amount reported for expenditures should be cumulative.
Repeat Finding: No
Recommendation: We recommend that the secondary review of the reports verify that the amount being presented on the report is the cumulative amount. Additionally, we recommend that the performance report be prepared and reviewed by separate individuals and have that be formally documented.