Finding 1152896 (2023-004)

Finding 2023-004 AL No.: 21.027 Program Title: COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Treasury Award Number/Year: 1505-0271 / 2021 Criteria: The Uniform Guidance requires that local entities receiving federal awards establish and maintain internal control designed to reasonably ensure compliance with laws, regulations and program compliance requirements. The Uniform Guidance further requires auditors to obtain an understanding of the local entity's internal control over federal programs. To minimize the risk of errors, internal controls should be in place for all program compliance requirements, including the preparation and submission of reports, which should be reviewed and approved by a responsible party other than the original preparer. Condition/Context: The County was unable to provide a transaction listing that reconciled to the amount of expenditures reported in the annual report for this program. The listing of eligible costs provided exceeded the reported amount by $487,765. Our sample was not statistically valid. Cause: The County did not have procedures in place to ensure the underlying records were in accordance with the required or stated criteria and methodology, including accuracy and completeness of the reports. Questioned Costs: None noted. Effect: Reports that contain errors could be submitted. Recommendation: We recommend that an employee other than the preparer ensure there is documentation available for all reported data before final submission of the report. Management's Response: The finance department staff will work with departmental management and fiscal staff to review current documented and/or undocumented procedures, adopting and/or updating written procedures as necessary to ensure: • All assembled reports (typically prepared by fiscal staff) are reviewed for completeness and accuracy by independent personnel (typically a department head.) • Reports be submitted on a timely basis. • Reconciliation of data on each submitted reports to the financial statements. • Reconciliation of grant period-to-date cumulative data totals to the financial statements. Additionally, the county finance team will assemble and maintain a centralized file for all county grants, requiring grant administrators (fiscal staff or department heads) to report completion dates for mandated report filings. The county finance team will also maintain a centralized data file for all county grant filings and grant documents.