Finding Text
2023-004 U.S. Department of Agriculture
Passed-through the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education
Child Nutrition Cluster – CFDA 10.553 & 10.555
Material Weakness in Internal Controls over Compliance and Compliance Finding
Criteria: Per 7 CFR Part 225.9 (d)(5), the School must retain records that support its claims for meal reimbursements.
Condition: Claims support could only be provided by the School for two months. For one month, support was in the form of spreadsheets with tray counts in lieu of a point-of-sale system. For the other month, the tray count spreadsheets were accompanied by reports from the point-of-sale system. The point-of-sale system reports provided did not agree to the amounts claimed for reimbursement. The tray counts did not indicate whether the meal provided was paid, free or reduced. The claims for reimbursement submitted by the School used allocation percentages derived from prior year claims when estimating amounts to be claimed as paid, free and reduced. The tray count spreadsheets for the other months could not be located by the School.
Cause: The Food Service Department did not maintain an adequate meal claiming system and the School did not adequately monitor its Food Service Department for compliance with Federal regulations.
Effect: Tray counts are not an accurate representation of the meals served nor appropriate support for the purposes of submitting claims for reimbursement. The pass-through agency disallowed $25,085.69 of meals claimed. A lack of a point-of-sale system also does not adequately safeguard the assets of the school lunch program.
Questioned Costs: $1,206,794.91, which represents the amounts reimbursed for fiscal year 2023 for claims submitted.
Perspective Information: The months tested do not represent a statistically valid sample.
Repeat Finding from Prior Year: No
Recommendation: The City should utilize a point-of-sale system for tracking student meal counts and submitting claims for reimbursements. Amounts claimed should be reconciled to the point-of-sale system reports before submitting.
Views of Responsible Official: Management agrees with the finding.