FAC Explorer

Finding 1155451 (2024-012)

Material Weakness Repeat Finding
Requirement
G
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2024
Accepted
2025-09-26
Audit: 367739
Organization: County of Allegheny, Pennsylvania (PA)
Auditor: Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: Inadequate support for matching expenditures totaling $1,091,241 was found in 48 out of 60 invoices, leading to discrepancies in reported costs to HUD.
  • Impacted Requirements: DHS failed to verify claimed matching expenditures and ensure data accuracy against accounting records, violating federal grant compliance.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: DHS should implement regular reviews of claimed expenditures and strengthen internal controls to meet compliance requirements for federal grants.

Finding Text

Continuum of Care AL# 14.267 Matching Condition: We observed that in connection with 48 of 60 program provider invoices tested, inadequate support had been provided for the matching expenditures claimed by the program providers totaling $1,091,241. These instances were not identified and properly resolved by DHS, such that the matching expenditures claimed were included in the accumulation of matching costs that was to be reported to HUD. We also noted that for one of the 60 provider invoices, $14,890 worth of matching costs claimed and supported by a provider were not properly included by DHS as matching costs. In addition, for one of the 60 provider invoices, DHS included $190 as a matching cost even though , the provider did not provide support or claim the amount as matching costs. Furthermore, the total match reported to HUD by DHS on the Sage Financial Report did not agree to the accumulation of matching costs in the accounting records, which resulted in an underreporting of $6,308. Criteria: Grantees (DHS) should have a process in place to verify the amounts claimed and reported as matching expenditures, and a process in place to ensure that data reported to HUD agrees with the accounting records. Cause: DHS does not have appropriate processes and strong internal controls in place to facilitate compliance with the matching requirements. Sufficient reviews of the amounts claimed and reported as matching expenditures are not occurring. This is a repeat finding from the prior year. Effect: The County was not in compliance with the terms of the federal grant program. Questioned Costs: none. Recommendation: DHS management should ensure that appropriate reviews of the amounts claimed and reported as matching expenditures routinely occur and all compliance requirements are followed for federal grants awarded. Management Response: Management agrees with the finding, see attached Corrective Action Plan.

Corrective Action Plan

We review each invoice monthly as they are submitted. Most of the review is insuring the items being invoiced are eligible under HUD and making sure the amounts are added correctly. We will review more closely the match submitted. Match for HUD is now reported based on the entire funding and not by individual grants. All match from all HUD programs is added together and submitted on one final report at the end of each funding year. The requirement is 25% on all budget lines except for Leasing. However, if one program’s match is short of the 25% requirement, the overall CoC is responsible for the filll match, so additional DHS admin costs are used to represent the additional match needed. For our FY23-24 annual report to HUD, we submitted 32.94% in match for the overall fimding. This amount did not include any additional HMIS (data system) costs, Allegheny Link (our coordinated entry system) costs or additional DHS admin costs. With these additional eligible activities, our matching amount could have been over 50%. Therefore, even if some identified items were considered ineligible our match would not be in jeopardy since we have a lot of eligible costs that DHS covers that would be considered match.

Categories

HUD Housing Programs Reporting Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking Internal Control / Segregation of Duties

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 1155442 2024-007
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155443 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155444 2024-003
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155445 2024-004
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155446 2024-007
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155447 2024-008
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155448 2024-009
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155449 2024-010
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155450 2024-011
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155452 2024-013
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155453 2024-005
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155454 2024-006
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155455 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155456 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1155457 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
93.575 Child Care and Development Block Grant $29.62M
20.205 Highway Planning and Construction $21.95M
14.267 Continuum of Care Program $21.64M
93.563 Child Support Services $17.95M
93.658 Foster Care Title IV-E $17.13M
93.558 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families $16.96M
21.023 Emergency Rental Assistance Program $14.35M
93.659 Adoption Assistance $12.68M
93.600 Head Start $12.52M
14.218 Community Development Block Grants/entitlement Grants $12.02M
93.596 Child Care Mandatory and Matching Funds of the Child Care and Development Fund $11.89M
93.959 Block Grants for Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse $7.45M
93.667 Social Services Block Grant $6.91M
66.956 Targeted Airshed Grant Program $5.65M
93.045 Special Programs for the Aging, Title Iii, Part C, Nutrition Services $4.66M
93.090 Guardianship Assistance $3.57M
10.557 Wic Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children $2.94M
93.958 Block Grants for Community Mental Health Services $2.72M
93.044 Special Programs for the Aging, Title Iii, Part B, Grants for Supportive Services and Senior Centers $2.36M
97.067 Homeland Security Grant Program $2.33M
93.556 Marylee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program $1.95M
93.495 Community Health Workers for Public Health Response and Resilient $1.91M
93.674 John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood $1.90M
93.268 Immunization Cooperative Agreements $1.66M
84.181 Special Education-Grants for Infants and Families $1.54M
66.001 Air Pollution Control Program Support $1.43M
93.569 Community Services Block Grant $1.39M
14.905 Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration Grant Program $1.23M
10.569 Emergency Food Assistance Program (food Commodities) $1.13M
93.304 Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health $1.12M
14.889 Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grants $1.05M
93.645 Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services Program $989,716
93.354 Public Health Emergency Response: Cooperative Agreement for Emergency Response: Public Health Crisis Response $978,266
93.052 National Family Caregiver Support, Title Iii, Part E $939,641
14.239 Home Investment Partnerships Program $888,969
93.048 Special Programs for the Aging, Title Iv, and Title Ii, Discretionary Projects $806,742
94.006 Americorps State and National 94.006 $717,728
93.104 Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances (sed) $688,121
93.069 Public Health Emergency Preparedness $677,871
93.967 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Collaboration with Academia to Strengthen Public Health $674,027
16.922 Equitable Sharing Program $651,519
93.994 Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant to the States $626,036
93.323 Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases (elc) $596,037
94.016 Americorps Seniors Senior Companion Program (scp) 94.016 $591,688
93.150 Projects for Assistance in Transition From Homelessness (path) $589,830
16.045 Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative $565,513
16.741 Dna Backlog Reduction Program $534,597
93.670 Child Abuse and Neglect Discretionary Activities $466,879
10.568 Emergency Food Assistance Program (administrative Costs) $447,947
93.870 Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant $435,590
93.977 Sexually Transmitted Diseases (std) Prevention and Control Grants $420,057
93.791 Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Demonstration $392,271
93.940 Hiv Prevention Activities Health Department Based $375,758
93.778 Medical Assistance Program $337,075
66.034 Surveys, Studies, Research, Investigations, Demonstrations, and Special Purpose Activities Relating to the Clean Air Act $307,556
93.334 The Healthy Brain Initiative: Technical Assistance to Implement Public Health Actions Related to Cognitive Health, Cognitive Impairment, and Caregiving at the State and Local Levels $254,509
97.042 Emergency Management Performance Grants $241,080
93.041 Special Programs for the Aging, Title Vii, Chapter 3, Programs for Prevention of Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation $237,448
93.747 Elder Abuse Prevention Interventions Program $235,900
21.027 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds $234,616
16.812 Second Chance Act Reentry Initiative $225,457
20.600 State and Community Highway Safety $206,541
16.738 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program $205,305
93.991 Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant $182,585
93.472 Title IV-E Prevention Program $155,179
93.070 Environmental Public Health and Emergency Response $141,077
95.001 High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program $134,217
16.838 Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Other Substances Use Program $109,642
93.043 Special Programs for the Aging, Title Iii, Part D, Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Services $104,634
14.881 Moving to Work Demonstration Program $92,774
16.588 Violence Against Women Formula Grants $75,236
10.561 State Administrative Matching Grants for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program $72,310
17.259 Wioa Youth Activities $65,917
16.123 Community-Based Violence Prevention Program $64,034
93.823 Public Health Response, Forecasting, and Analytic Capacities Related to Disease Outbreaks, Epidemics, and Pandemics $63,408
93.324 State Health Insurance Assistance Program $60,190
66.312 Environmental Justice Government-to-Government (ejg2g) Program $59,289
16.540 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention $55,854
93.136 Injury Prevention and Control Research and State and Community Based Programs $52,509
93.421 Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services Through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation’s Health $50,663
16.833 National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative $50,228
14.231 Emergency Solutions Grant Program $48,653
93.071 Medicare Enrollment Assistance Program $47,113
16.560 National Institute of Justice Research, Evaluation, and Development Project Grants $34,645
16.609 Project Safe Neighborhoods $32,599
93.197 Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Projects, State and Local Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance of Blood Lead Levels in Children $28,031
93.788 Opioid Str $18,689
20.703 Interagency Hazardous Materials Public Sector Training and Planning Grants $15,545
16.575 Crime Victim Assistance $14,828
14.906 Healthy Homes Technical Studies Grants $10,700
16.742 Paul Coverdell Forensic Sciences Improvement Grant Program $5,399
10.572 Wic Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (fmnp) $5,313
93.243 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance $1,098
16.528 Enhanced Training and Services to End Violence and Abuse of Women Later in Life $236
93.008 Medical Reserve Corps Small Grant Program $68
93.042 Special Programs for the Aging, Title Vii, Chapter 2, Long Term Care Ombudsman Services for Older Individuals $1
93.758 Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant Funded Solely with Prevention and Public Health Funds (pphf) $-670
93.053 Nutrition Services Incentive Program $-5,081
93.738 Pphf: Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health Program Financed Solely by Public Prevention and Health Funds $-21,368
93.665 Emergency Grants to Address Mental and Substance Use Disorders During Covid-19 $-344,154