Finding Text
Finding 2024-007 – N. Special Tests and Provisions – Disbursement to or on Behalf of Students – Federal-Work Study
Information on Federal Program(s) – Federal Work-Study Program (ALN 84.033)
Criteria or Specific Requirement – Federal regulations (34 CFR 675.19(b)) require institutions to establish and maintain program and fiscal records that include a certification by the student’s supervisor, an official of the institution or off-campus agency, that each student has worked and earned the amount being paid.
Condition – A certain student’s timesheet was not appropriately reviewed and approved.
Cause - Administrative oversight and insufficient internal controls.
Effect or Potential Effect – Federal awards were not disbursed in accordance with federal regulations, and the University was not in compliance with recordkeeping requirements.
Questioned Costs – None.
Context – 1 of 25 timesheets tested was not certified by the student’s supervisor.
Indication of Repeat Finding - No similar findings noted in the prior year.
Recommendation – We recommend the University enhance its procedures and internal controls to ensure that all Federal Work-Study related timesheets are appropriately reviewed and approved.
Views of Responsible Officials – The payroll Process for Federal Work Study: Student punches in on a computer or cell phone to log in and out when working at the start of their shift and the end of their shift. Timecards can be approved by their supervisor/manager daily, weekly, or by the pay period which is every two weeks. The pay period ends on a Friday with the payroll processing to begin on the following Monday. On that Monday, all timecards must be corrected/updated and approved before they can be processed. Timecards with errors cannot be processed.
Each Monday the supervisor/manager must log into the student timecard and "approve" the card for the pay period that ended on the past Friday. When the supervisor/manager opens the card on Monday it defaults to the current pay period and not the previous pay period that needs to be approved. The supervisor/manager must select the "previous" pay period in order to approve the card to be processed.
In the case of the student in question, the supervisor/manager did not select the correct pay period and therefore approved the future timecard. As the payroll manager, I would have emailed him, the manager, that the card to be processed had not been approved. Upon that, he went back and approved the pay period that was to be processed. The approval on the next pay period that he mistakenly approved should have been removed. It was not. The process for card approvals is to check on the Monday of payroll the cards that are still in need of updates/corrections and approvals.
A report is run and shows what cards our still without approval and with errors. The payroll manager communicates to the manager and the student that there are errors on the card and/or it still needs to be approved. Payment for that card cannot be made until errors are corrected and the card is approved.
It is the supervisor and manager’s responsibility to ensure timecards are corrected and updated for processing. This error can be resolved with the supervisor/manager accountable for the accuracy of the time cards. Before processing a report, can be run by the payroll manager of the date/time of approval.
All supervisors and managers who are responsible for the approval of timecards will be reeducated on the process and sign off that they understand their role. Those who do not adhere to the process will have additional training. As new supervisors and managers are hired, the process will be part of their on-boarding.