Finding 1160404 (2025-001)

Material Weakness Repeat Finding
Requirement
L
Questioned Costs
$1
Year
2025
Accepted
2025-10-15

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The District inaccurately reported meal counts for federal reimbursement, leading to unsubstantiated federal funds.
  • Impacted Requirements: Monthly claims for the National School Lunch & Breakfast Program must accurately reflect meals served to ensure proper reimbursement.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Implement a secondary review process for meal input into the CNMS system before submission to prevent future errors.

Finding Text

Finding 2025-001 – Reporting Federal Award & Specific Award Identification U.S. Department of Agriculture Passed through the New York State Department of Education Program Name: Child Nutrition Cluster Assistance Listing: 10.553, 10.555 & 10.582 MATERIAL WEAKNESS MATERIAL NONCOMPLIANCE Reporting Criteria The National School Lunch & Breakfast Program requires monthly claims be reported to New York State Child Nutrition Management System (CNMS). These claims are based on the number of meals served during the month and determine the monthly reimbursement to the District. Statement of Condition During the audit, we found that for one month of claims the District did not submit the proper amount of meals for reimbursement for breakfast and lunch. Cause Human error in the input of meals served into the CNMS system. Also, the District does not have any procedures in place to verify that the correct counts are input into CNMS prior to submission. Effect The District received additional federal reimbursement that was not substantiated by actual meals for the month. Questioned Costs $12,296. This amount was determined by taking the actual number of meals served for breakfast and multiplying by the reimbursement rate per meal. Context Of the 10 months of claims for the school lunch & breakfast program, we examined 3 and determined that one month’s breakfast and lunch claims were not submitted properly. There have been no previous instances of non-compliance. This is not a repeat finding. Recommendation We recommend that a secondary review of the manual inputs into the CNMS system is performed by another member of the District’s staff prior to submission to CNMS. View of Responsible Individuals The District acknowledges the error was made, which was the result of booking one month of breakfast reimbursement using the number of lunches served. Prior to the issuance of the financial statements, the District corrected the May breakfast and lunch claim and re-submitted for reimbursement to CNMS, and has implemented a procedure to verify that correct amounts are inputted into CNMS monthly, prior to submission.

Corrective Action Plan

CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN Finding 2025-001 – Reporting The District concurs with the finding 2025-001. Corrective Action: Moving forward, the District Treasurer will enter the monthly claims with the Food Service Director and will verify that the meal counts and the total claims are correct for both breakfast and lunch. The anticipated completion date of the corrective action is September 29, 2025. Contact Person: Alicia D. Koster, Superintendent of Schools (518) 762-4611 akoster@johnstownschools.org

Categories

Questioned Costs School Nutrition Programs Cash Management Material Weakness Reporting

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 1160400 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1160401 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1160402 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1160403 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.027 Special Education Grants to States $503,648
84.010 Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies $365,036
10.553 School Breakfast Program $195,315
84.367 Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants (formerly Improving Teacher Quality State Grants) $65,124
10.575 Farm to School Grant Program $49,501
10.579 Child Nutrition Discretionary Grants Limited Availability $48,038
10.582 Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program $34,800
84.424 Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program $30,023
84.173 Special Education Preschool Grants $16,695
10.555 National School Lunch Program $4,872
84.425 Education Stabilization Fund $548