Finding Text
Significant Deficiency – Grant Oversight
Program: AL Number 16.575 – Crime Victim Assistance
AL Number 93.558 – TANF Cluster
Federal Award Year: Fiscal year 2023-2024
Federal Agency: United States Department of Health and Human Services and United
States Department of Justice
Compliance Requirement: Not applicable
Questioned Costs: $0
Criteria: According to 2 CFR Part 200 - Uniform Administrative Requirements,
Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, non-federal
entities are required to establish and maintain effective internal control
over the federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the entity
is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes,
regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal Condition: During 2024, an audit by the Michigan Department of Health and Human
Services identified multiple compliance and internal control issues related
to January 2024 thru March 2024. As a result of the audit, the
Organization was required to repay $37,349 in previously provided grant
funds; the majority of which related to unsupported payroll and fringe
benefit charges for shelter and hotline staff.
Cause: The Organization’s shelter and hotline staff funded by sexual assault
funding sources did not properly utilize program codes on their time
sheets resulting in discrepancies between timesheet used to allocate
costs between various grants and actual time spent on those programs.
The Organization’s internal control procedures did not identify this
discrepancy.
Effect: As a result, the Organization did not properly follow all requirements of 2
CFR Part 200 - Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles,
and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, which resulted in the
payback of $37,349 in previously provided grant funding.
Recommendation: We recommend that the Organization 1) develop a method of allocating
shelter and hotline staff that is based on actual services being provided;
2) conduct regular training sessions for all staff involved in federal grant
management to ensure they understand and adhere to the federal
policies and procedures and grant compliance requirements and; 3)
perform periodic internal audits to assess compliance with federal
requirements and the effectiveness of internal controls.
Views of Responsible
Officials: Management agrees with the finding.
Corrective Action Plan: See corrective action plan on page 39 detailing the steps management
has taken to resolve this finding.