Finding Text
Finding 2024-002 – Significant Deficiency
Award No.: Assistance List No. 15.555 and No. 15.074
Federal Grantor: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, AL No. 15.074 Passed- Through the Del Puerto Water District
Compliance Requirement: Other compliance requirements.
Condition: The Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA) was not complete, and expenditures reported on the SEFA were revised during the single audit.
Criteria: 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart F (Uniform Guidance) Section 200.502 states, “The auditee should prepare a Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards for the period covered by the auditee’s financial statements.” Internal controls over preparation of the SEFA should be in place to ensure accrual basis expenses incurred under each federal program are properly reported as expenses on the SEFA and are properly reported as revenue in the financial statements prior to the start of the single audit.
Cause: SEFA was not fully reconciled and finalized until after the single audit began.
Effect: Expenses were omitted from the SEFA that should have been included and other expenses were included on the SEFA that were not eligible. The SEFA had to be revised for multiple grants over the course of the audit. This delayed the audit testing and major program determination process and could have resulted in the wrong programs being tested as major programs and the single audit not complying with the Uniform Guidance.
Context: The District’s Finance Department was not informed of grant amendments that changed the amount of federal funding available. The expenses reported on the SEFA were revised during the single audit as follows.
• AL No. 15.555 San Joaquin River Restoration Program Poso Canal Bridge Replacement: The District estimated additional reimbursable costs of $30,335 existed for the Poso Canal Bridge Replacement grant under a potential new $990,000 grant amendment that was to be signed by the USBR in 2025. The amendment was not approved for the Poso Canal Bridge Replacement but the District included the additional reimbursable expenses on the SEFA. The expenses on the SEFA had to be reduced to reflect the eligible federal grant maximum reimbursable expenses under the approved grant agreement at year-end.
• AL No. 15.704 Small Surface Water and Groundwater Storage Projects Orestimba Creek Recharge and Recovery Expansion: An additional grant amendment was identified during the single audit that authorized an additional $1,262,928 of federal funding. The District had eligible expenses during the period of performance to fully claim the additional funding, but did not include the expenses on the SEFA.
Recommendation: We recommend additional review procedures be implemented to ensure the SEFA is complete and accurate when the single audit begins, which includes working with program managers to identify each grant awarded, obtain current executed grant agreements and amendments, reconciling all expenses incurred under each federal awards down to the invoice, payroll check and lowest level of any other costs claimed, cutting-off each expense at year-end and claiming the reconciled qualifying expenses within 45 days after quarter end. At year-end, programs should be reviewed for cost adjustments, extensions, and other changes that should be reflected on the SEFA when reconciling expenses for the SEFA. Separate general ledger program codes should be used for each grant on the SEFA that summarizes expenses down to the individual invoice level that should be provided to the auditor for the single audit. If overclaimed amounts are identified, the grantor and/or pass-through agency should be contacted to determine whether to return the funds or apply the overclaimed amounts to future claims.
Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: Management’s response and planned corrective action is included in the Corrective Action Plan included at the end of the report.