Finding Text
2024-002. Allowable Costs/Cost Principles United States Department of Justice, Passed through New York State, Office of Victims Services Crime Victim Assistance ALN: 16.575 United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Continuum of Care Program ALN: 14.267 Criteria: Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200.430, covers standards for documentation of compensation-personal services. Charges to federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed and time spent. These records must be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated. Furthermore, these records should support the distribution of the employee’s salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one federal award; a federal award and non-federal award; an indirect cost activity and a direct cost activity; two or more indirect activities, which are allocated using different allocation bases; or an unallowable activity and a direct or indirect cost activity. Condition: The Organization charged costs for staff time without source documentation that complied with Uniform Guidance. Time records prepared by employees do not reflect the actual time spent on programs funded by a federal award, rather they are based on budgeted hours. Cause: The Organization allocates payroll to programs funded by awards based on the contract supported budget, which is based on an estimate of the time that work will be performed by individuals. At the time of the audit, the true-up of budgeted hours to actual hours worked had not been completed. Effect: Reimbursement for compensation under federal awards without time records that differentiate between activities conducted, such as personnel activity equivalent reports, might result in the incorrect payment amount of payroll expenses. Identification of a Repeat Finding: This is a repeat finding from the prior year, 2023-002. Questioned Costs: Dollar amount undetermined. Recommendation: The Organization should maintain Personnel Activity Reports (PAR) or equivalent documentation. This reporting of time will allow each employee to accurately reflect the time work is performed for compensation that is funded by a federal award. Views of Responsible Officials of Auditee: The Organization agrees with the finding and will modify procedures to reflect actual time worked by employee on PAR equivalent documentation, which will serve as support for personnel expenses funded by a federal award.