Finding 1136930 (2023-002)

Department of Education Finding 2023-002 – Education Stabilization Fund – AL No.’s 84.425D & 84.425U Department of Education Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Noncompliance and Material Weakness Related to Internal Control over Compliance of the Major Program Criteria: Where employees work solely or partially on a single Federal program or cost objective, their salaries or wages must be supported by periodic certification that the employee worked on these programs for the period covered by the programs. The certifications should be prepared at least semi-annually, and should be signed by the employee or supervisory official having first-hand knowledge of the work performed by the employee. Condition: During our test of controls over compliance with time and effort certifications the school department provided time and effort certifications that did not agree to the payroll records, and were not dated at the time of approval. Questioned Costs: Unknown Context: During our test of payroll transactions of the ESSER II and ESSER III grants it was noted that the time and effort certifications did not agree to the payroll records and were not dated. Effect: The Town of Sturbridge was not in compliance with the time and effort certification requirements. Cause: Due to staffing changes, time and effort documents were not completed in a timely manner. Identification as a Repeat Finding: N/A Recommendation: We recommend the Town of Sturbridge follow procedures to ensure that semi-annual certifications and/or monthly certifications are prepared and agree with the payroll records, and signed by either the employees and/or supervisory official having first-hand knowledge of the work performed by the employees in a timely manner in order to comply with the time and effort certification requirement. Management Response: Moving forward the school department bookkeepers will work to ensure time and effort certifications are completed in a timely fashion.