Finding Text
Assistance Listing, Federal Agency, and Program Name - 11.611, United States Department of Commerce (DOC), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Federal Award Identification Number and Year - 70NANB20H067
Finding Type - Material weakness and material noncompliance with laws and regulations
Repeat Finding - No
Criteria - SF 425 Federal Financial Reports are required to be submitted semi annually per the 2023 compliance supplement.
Condition - A process was not in place during the year to ensure program income was reported accurately on the SF 425 reports submitted during the year.
Questioned Costs - Not applicable
Context - Two SF 425 reports are required during the year under audit. For 6 month period ending June 30, 2023, program income was overstated on the SF 425 by $1,303,990. For 6 month period ending December 31, 2023, program income was understated on the SF 425 by $536,263.
Cause and Effect - Due to the lack of controls surrounding the preparation and review of the SF 425 reports errors occurred. The original amounts submitted were materially overstated.
Recommendation - The Organization should maintain documentation to support program income reported on the SF 425 reports submitted. An additional individual should be involved in reviewing the program income calculation to ensure accuracy prior to submission.
Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Action Plan - Subsequent to year end, the reorganized finance team performed a recalculation and resubmitted corrected SF 425 reports.
Moving forward the Accounting Supervisor will calculate the NIST MEP monthly program income which is used to determine the monthly award drawdown of cash from the available grant award funds. This is reviewed by the Controller and this report is used to create SF 425.