Finding 1138345 (2024-002)

Finding 2024-002 – 84.425 COVID-19 Education Stabilization Fund Federal Agency – U.S. Department of Education Grant Period – Year ended August 31, 2023 Compliance Requirement – C. Cash Management L. Reporting Criteria – A requirement of accepting the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) award is to minimize the time between drawing down funds from G5 and paying obligations. Institutional funds specifically require funds to be drawn and applied to allowable disbursements within three business days and reporting requirements which state that the College must conspicuously post the quarterly reports 10 days following the quarter end on the College’s website. Condition – Due to delays in reconciliations, the College was not able to gather and identify allowable expenditures. Under prior management, the funds were drawn in advance of allowable expenses charged to the grant through June 30, 2023. This therefore also resulted in the quarterly reporting due April 10 and July 10, 2023 to not be completed timely. It was also explained that management was not aware of the required quarterly reporting and therefore the reports were not completed timely and posted on the College’s website. The College was aware of the annual 2023 reporting and completed and submitted that timely. Cause – The College has experienced significant turnover in its Budget and Finance department in 2023 resulting in one individual being primarily responsible for HEERF reconciliations and reporting. Due to other delays in reconciliations, not all allowable expenses were identified within the required draw period. Effect – The College was able to reconcile the books and identify allowable expenses, however, some were incurred in June, beyond the 3 days of the draw and required quarterly reporting was not completed. Recommendation –We recommend that the College enacts policies and procedures to ensure that all accounts in the general ledger are reconciled regularly. This ensure expenses are properly identified and applied to specific grant funding for reimbursement. The College also needs to assign responsibility for required reporting to designated employees and ensure there is a process for transferring that responsibility upon turnover.