FAC Explorer

Finding 1156215 (2024-002)

Material Weakness Repeat Finding
Requirement
AB
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2024
Accepted
2025-09-29
Audit: 368574
Organization: Marshfield Clinic Health System, Inc. (WI)
Auditor: Forvis Mazars LLP

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: Internal controls over allowable costs are insufficient, failing to prevent and detect errors in employee expense reports for research programs.
  • Impacted Requirements: Non-compliance with 2 CFR 200.303 and internal control standards, leading to potential risks in managing federal awards.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Implement effective supervisory reviews and formal documentation for employee expense reimbursements to ensure compliance with federal and state award criteria.

Finding Text

Allowable Costs U. S. Department of Health and Human Services U. S. Department of Agriculture Research and Development Cluster Significant Deficiency Criteria: 2 CFR 200.303 requires that a non-federal entity must “(a) establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government” issued by the Comptroller General of the United States. Condition: During our testing of internal controls over allowability of costs, it was determined that internal controls over allowable costs are not designed to prevent and detect errors in employee reimbursed expenditures being reported on certain Group 1 benefited employees’ expense reports for amounts charged to research and development programs. Cause: Lack of effectively designed and implemented internal controls over allowability of expenditures. Effect: Without the proper implementation of an effectively designed system of internal controls, the internal control system cannot be relied upon to effectively prevent or detect noncompliance. Questioned costs: None reported Context: Our testing noted five transactions out of a total of 60 transactions that did not have documentation of appropriate approval. Our sample was not intended to be statistically valid. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: Yes. Finding 2023-002. Recommendation: Effective supervisory review and approval internal controls over employee expense reimbursements should be implemented to ensure expenditures charged to federal or state awards meet the criteria established in the terms and conditions. Furthermore, the review and approval should be formally documented.

Corrective Action Plan

Finding 2024-002 Name of Contact Person: Debra Hansen, Finance Project Manager – Grants and Gifts Corrective Action Plan: Management concurs with the recommendation and will collaborate with Travel Department and other Administrative staff to strengthen controls and implement supervisory review and documented approval of employee reimbursed expenditures charged to externally sponsored programs. It can be noted that the five transactions tested that did not have documentation of appropriate approval occurred prior to August 2024, the remediation date of Finding 2023-002. Completion Date: Matter was remediated in August 2024

Categories

Allowable Costs / Cost Principles Cash Management Significant Deficiency Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking Internal Control / Segregation of Duties

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 1156141 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156142 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156143 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156144 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156145 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156146 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156147 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156148 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156149 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156150 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156151 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156152 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156153 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156154 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156155 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156156 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156157 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156158 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156159 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156160 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156161 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156162 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156163 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156164 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156165 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156166 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156167 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156168 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156169 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156170 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156171 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156172 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156173 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156174 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156175 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156176 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156177 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156178 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156179 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156180 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156181 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156182 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156183 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156184 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156185 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156186 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156187 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156188 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156189 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156190 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156191 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156192 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156193 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156194 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156195 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156196 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156197 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156198 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156199 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156200 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156201 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156202 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156203 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156204 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156205 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156206 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156207 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156208 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156209 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156210 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156211 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156212 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156213 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156214 2024-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156216 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156217 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1156218 2024-001
    Material Weakness Repeat

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
10.766 Community Facilities Loans and Grants $15.73M
93.368 21st Century Cures Act - Precision Medicine Initiative $3.69M
93.399 Cancer Control $3.28M
94.006 Americorps State and National 94.006 $1.20M
93.RD Connect for Cancer Prevention Study $1.10M
93.RD Vaccine Safety Datalink Infrastructure $653,713
93.788 Opioid Str $418,328
93.350 National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences $363,785
93.859 Biomedical Research and Research Training $354,903
93.310 Trans-Nih Research Support $328,487
93.RD Rapid Cycle Analysis for Covid-19 Vaccines in the Vaccine Safety Datalink $295,302
93.912 Rural Health Care Services Outreach, Rural Health Network Development and Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement $265,517
93.RD Optimal Strategies to Estimate the Relative Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccines $259,721
93.073 Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities - Prevention and Surveillance $165,488
93.575 Child Care and Development Block Grant $138,157
93.959 Block Grants for Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse $132,433
21.027 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds $107,835
93.393 Cancer Cause and Prevention Research $100,368
93.RD Covid-19 Vaccines in the Vaccine Safety Datalink $87,451
93.866 Aging Research $79,570
93.RD Covid-19 Community Cohort $73,415
93.323 Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases (elc) $60,777
93.243 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance $54,997
93.301 Small Rural Hospital Improvement Grant Program $44,952
10.001 Agricultural Research Basic and Applied Research $36,135
93.396 Cancer Biology Research $35,505
93.RD Vaccine Safety Datalink, Vsd Covid-19 Infrastructure Participating Site Monitoring for Vaccine-Associated Enhanced Disease Following $34,182
93.185 Immunization Research, Demonstration, Public Information and Education Training and Clinical Skills Improvement Projects $30,414
93.RD Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study IV Pediatric (reds-IV-P) Phase 2 $30,325
93.262 Occupational Safety and Health Program $23,729
16.575 Crime Victim Assistance $23,551
93.395 Cancer Treatment Research $18,250
93.RD Central Data Collection Center (cdcc) - Continued Follow-Up of Plco Participants $17,663
93.RD Sentinel Initiative Year 10 Query Activity 1 $17,381
93.U01 Other Financial Assistance $15,018
93.RD Sentinel Initiative Year 10 Infrastructure $13,032
93.153 Coordinated Services and Access to Research for Women, Infants, Children, and Youth $12,037
93.RD Sentinel Common Data Model V8.2.0 Implementation $11,220
10.212 Small Business Innovation Research (sbir) Program / Small Business Technology Transfer (sttr) Program $8,873
93.855 Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research $5,929
93.RD Sentinel Initiative Year 10 Query Activity 2 $5,794
93.837 Cardiovascular Diseases Research $5,370
93.988 Cooperative Agreements for Diabetes Control Programs $5,059
93.RD Sentinel Initiative Year 11 Infrastructure $3,833
93.421 Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services Through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation’s Health $1,314