Finding 1156668 (2024-003)

2 CFR § 200.405 (a) states, in part, that a cost is allocable to a particular Federal award or other cost objective if the goods or services involved are chargeable or assignable to that Federal award or cost objective in accordance with relative benefits received. Ohio Admin. Code § 5101:9-1-04(C)(3) defines “Social service (SS) administrative costs” as “costs that benefit one or more SS programs. The SS cost pool consists of costs relating to the administration of various SS programs. During our testing of indirect payroll expenditures, we noted that the Belmont County Family and Children First Council Coordinator’s salary and benefits were improperly charged to the social services cost pool. This error resulted in questioned costs of $68,016 against the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Cluster. Failure to charge these costs to the appropriate cost pool resulted in the allocation of costs to a non-benefitting program, which subsequently resulted in improper Federal reimbursement to this non-benefitting program. We recommend the County implement procedures to evaluate expenditures to determine which programs they benefit in order to charge the associated costs to the appropriate indirect cost pool or direct program. We further recommend the County complete the necessary adjustment in CFIS Web to adjust the aforementioned costs, and any similar ones, to the benefitting program.