Finding Text
Adult Education-Basic Grants to States-ALN #84.002;
U.S. Department of Education
Pass-Through Entity – Pennsylvania Department of Education
Criteria: The Pennsylvania Department of Education requires a 25 percent local match for direct service grants under federal WIOA section 231 funding (Federal Adult Education 064) and Section 243 Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education 061, which is reported to the federal government as part of the match required of the state in AEFLA Sec. 222 (b). Local match is the portion of a grant-supported project or program not borne by the federal government.
Condition: The Center receives federal money to provide Adult Basic Education, General Education Development (GED), family literacy, career assessment and career and job-skills training for the underprivileged of the community. In order to defray the costs of operating the program, grantees are required to have a 25% local match of the total program costs. Local match can be either cash or third-party in-kind contributions. Audit procedures disclosed that the Center had a 22% local match for the period under audit.
Context: The Center has been providing Adult Basic Education, General Education Development (GED), family literacy, career assessment and career and job-skills training for the underprivileged of the community services under a grant received from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. In order to reduce the cost of the program to the federal government, grantees are required to obtain a 25% match of local funds to operate the program.
Cause: The Center did not have a formal documented policy to track the amount of in-kind contributions it was receiving during the period under audit. As a result, no in-kind contributions were recorded in the general ledger throughout the year.
Effect: The Center did not know whether or not it was meeting its required 25% match during the period under audit.
Question Costs: None
Repeat Finding: This was not a repeat finding.
Recommendation: We recommend the Center establish a formal tracking process to record in real time the value of all of its in-kind goods and services received to help determine whether or not it is meeting its match requirements,
View of Responsible Officials: Management has responded to this finding in the Corrective Action Plan which is part of this reporting package.