Finding 1156788 (2024-002)

Program - Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health, ALN # 93.304 Compliance Requirement – Allowable Cost Questioned Cost - $22,100.41 Criteria - The Uniform Guidance states that any federal share of unallowable costs must be refunded to the government. Condition - During our audit, we noticed an instance of duplicate expenditures being recorded. Reimbursement was requested and received for these costs from the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health program under ALN 93.304. This occurred through a single vendor, for which it was noted that the vendor had sent duplicate invoices, and MSPHI recorded both invoices. Effect - Lack of controls resulted in MSPHI recording duplicate expenditures, which resulted in requesting reimbursement for unallowable costs. Cause - Duplicate vendor records. Recommendation - We recommend the implementation of IT controls to prevent the recording of duplicate invoice numbers. View of responsible officials - The vendor(USM) sent duplicate bills but from different names on the invoice 2 months apart. Mississippi Public Health Institute has since made all departments and duplicate names inactive inside NetSuite so the internal controls of duplicate invoice numbers and amounts will work. The Organization concurs with the finding and will implement the recommendation. Refer to Corrective Action Plan.