Finding Text
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
2024-001 WIOA Cluster: WIOA Youth Activities 17.259, WIOA Adult Program 17.258 and WIOA Dislocated Formula Grants 17.278.
Statement of Condition: The allocation of indirect costs related to the federal programs between program costs and administration costs was not correct.
Criteria: The Organization did not allocate allowable indirect costs to the federal programs in accordance with the expense allocation utilized by the organization.
Cause: The spreadsheet used to determine the percent of indirect costs charged to program costs and administration costs contained a formula error.
Effect: The percentages used to determine the amount of indirect costs to charge to program costs and administration costs were not correct. Program costs were overreported and administration costs were underreported.
Context: For the three months selected for testing, a total of $8,408 was charged to program costs instead of administration costs. Based on review of the Financial Status Reports (FSR) submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, the Organization would still be in compliance with the Earmarking requirement that no more than 10% of WIOA funds be charged for administration costs.
Recommendation: We recommend the organization ensures the spreadsheet used to allocate the indirect costs between program and administration is accurate.
View of Responsible Officials: The formula used to calculate the allocation of indrect costs charged to program costs and administration costs has been corrected.
Corrective Action Taken: The formula in question has been corrected. Further, in order to prevent any issues happening again, key cells in the document have been locked (password protected) and TRUE/FALSE checks have been added. These TRUE/FALSE checks will serve as an additional method to ensure that the formulas are pulling correctly and with conditional formatting to serve as a color warning when something is wrong. If the formula is working correctly, the TRUE checks will show; if the formula is not working correctly, the check will show FALSE in bright red, indicating that there is a problem. The check fields will also be protected so they cannot be inadvertently changed.