Finding Text
Assistance Listing, Federal Agency, and Program Name 93.870, Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant
Federal Award Identification Number and Year S MIEC F 2022 9 2, 2024
Pass through Entity Children's Trust of South Carolina
Finding Type Material weakness and material noncompliance with laws and regulations
Repeat Finding No
Criteria Expenditures should be approved, following the Organization's policies and procedures, and incurred before requesting reimbursement to ensure costs are allowable under the Program.
Condition The Organization had a control in place to approve contractor expenditures prior to charging the expense to the Program; however, the control was ineffective and resulted in a cost being requested for reimbursement that had not been incurred by the Organization.
Questioned Costs $1,667
If questioned costs are not determinable, description of why known questioned costs were undetermined or otherwise could not be reported N/A
Identification of How Questioned Costs Were Computed The questioned costs total the amount of the invoiced identified as unallowable.
Context Out of a sample of 40 expenses, we identified one expense that was not appropriately approved by the Organization's control processes and was not paid for.
Cause and Effect The Organization's control over contractor payments was not designed effectively to ensure costs were approved and incurred prior to requesting reimbursement. The failure to have an effective control in place caused the Organization to charge a cost to the Program that the Organization had not yet incurred.
Recommendation We recommend that the review process ensure that items have been expended prior to charging the amount to the grant.
Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions The Organization will implement a mandatory documentation checklist, including verified contractor invoices and proof of service completion, prior to approving any expense charged to the Program.
The Organization will adopt a two-level approval process—requiring sign-off by both the Program Manager and the Finance Department to validate incurred costs.