Finding Text
FINDING 2024-002
Subject: COVID-19 - Education Stabilization Fund - Reporting
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Federal Program: COVID-19 - Education Stabilization Fund
Assistance Listings Numbers: 84.425C, 84.425D, 84.425U
Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): S425C200018, S425D210013,
S425U210013, 7000S425U210013,
3115
Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education
Compliance Requirement: Reporting
Audit Finding: Material Weakness
Condition and Context
An effective internal control system was not designed, nor implemented, at the School Corporation
to ensure compliance with requirements related to the grant agreement and the Reporting compliance
requirements.
INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS
17
NEW PALESTINE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS
(Continued)
The School Corporation had not designed, nor implemented, a system of internal controls to ensure
the annual Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) annual Data Collection reports
(Reports) were complete and accurately submitted. The School Corporation Reports were prepared by the
Deputy Treasurer and the Grant Administrator, then were reviewed and approved by the Business
Manager; however, there was no documentation provided to verify that the oversight or review process to
prevent, or detect and correct, errors was performed during the audit period. This resulted in errors on the
ESSER I Year 3 report that was originally submitted in April 2023 not being detected and corrected until
July 2024.
Criteria
2 CFR 200.303 states in part:
"The non-Federal entity must:
(a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides
reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in
compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal
award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for
Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the
United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ."
Cause
There was no documentation that a system of internal controls had been designed and implemented
by management of the School Corporation to ensure compliance with the federal award and the
Reporting compliance requirement. As a result, a report was originally submitted that contained incorrect
information and was not discovered and corrected for 15 months.
Effect
Without an effective system of internal controls, noncompliance with the federal award and the
Reporting compliance requirement occurred for one of the reports submitted by the School Corporation.
Users of the Report rely upon its accuracy to make appropriate decisions.
Questioned Costs
There were no questioned costs identified.
Recommendation
We recommended that the School Corporation's management establish a system of internal
controls related to the federal award and the Reporting compliance requirement which includes documentation
of the operation of internal controls.
Views of Responsible Officials
For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.