Finding 1147981 (2024-003)

Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Federal Program Title: Health Center Program Cluster Assistance Listing Numbers: 93.224 and 93.527 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: H80CS00109-22; H80CS00109-23 Award Period: May 1, 2023 – April 30, 2024; May 1, 2024 – April 30, 2025 Type of Finding: Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance and Immaterial Noncompliance Criteria or specific requirement: Charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated; reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non-Federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities; and support the distribution of the employee's salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award (2 CFR 200.430(i)(1)). Condition: Payroll costs charged to federal grants were either missing documentation related to time and effort or were allocated to grants in a manner inconsistent with the time and effort documentation provided. Questioned costs: $7,444 Context: Six (6) of forty (40) allowable cost transactions selected for testing were related to payroll costs and were missing time and effort documentation. Eight (8) of forty (40) allowable cost transactions selected for testing were related to payroll costs which were allocated to the grant in a manner inconsistent with the time and effort documentation provided. Two (2) of forty (40) allowable cost transactions selected for testing were related to payroll and contained a difference between the hours worked per the timesheet and hours paid per the payroll register. Cause: Unknown Effect: Grants may be allocated costs in a manner which is inconsistent with the actual level of effort associated with the underlying employee. Repeat Finding: No. Recommendation: Management should reenforce the requirement to retain time and effort documentation for all employees that are allocated to multiple grants and implement a review process whereby the allocation percentages used are compared to the employee attestations provided. Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with this finding.