Finding 1102388 (2023-006)

Assistance Listing Number(s): 10.912 Name of Federal Program or Cluster: Environmental Quality Incentives Program Name of Federal Agency: Department of Agriculture Award Periods: September 3, 2019 through July 31, 2024 and September 30, 2020 through September 30, 2025 Assistance Listing Number(s): 10.924 Name of Federal Program or Cluster: Conservation Stewardship Program Name of Federal Agency: Department of Agriculture Award Periods: September 3, 2019 through July 31, 2024 and September 30, 2020 through September 30, 2025 Criteria or Specific Requirement: 2 CFR Section 200.403 states the factors that determine allowability of costs charged to federal awards and requires costs to be determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Condition: We identified costs incurred in 2022 that were incorrectly recorded as 2023 costs and charged to federal awards. Cause: Management has not designed and implemented sufficient internal controls to ensure costs are recorded in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles to be allowable for federal awards. Effect or Potential Effect: An unallowable cost could be charged to the federal program. Context and Questioned Costs: During our testing of grants for appropriate accounting period cutoff, we identified 2022 costs that were charged to grants in 2023. Thus, we selected all grant transactions charged to the major program that were recorded in January 2023, and grant transactions over $2,500 for the period February 1, 2023 through June 30, 2023 to test for recognition in the proper period. The amount tested totaled $243,311, which included $12,726 of costs recorded in the wrong period. Other than not being recorded in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, these costs were otherwise allowable and recorded in the proper period of performance. Repeat Finding: No Recommendation: We recommend management design and implement sufficient internal controls to ensure costs are recorded in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles to be allowable for federal awards. Views of Responsible Officials: Management agrees with the finding and they will evaluate our findings to determine an appropriate corrective action.