Finding Text
2025-004: DUPLICATE COSTS CHARGED TO MULTIPLE FEDERAL GRANTS Program: 84.299 Indian Education – Special Programs for Indian Children 84.184 School Safety National Activities Criteria: Uniform Guidance requires that costs charged to federal awards be allowable, allocable, and not charged to more than one federal program. Condition: During testing of grant expenditures, we identified instances where duplicate costs were submitted for reimbursement through multiple federal grants. Repeat Finding: No Questioned Costs: Questioned costs totaling $8,535 were identified. Of this amount: $3,169 related to ALN 84.299 – Indian Education – Special Programs for Indian Children $5,366 related to ALN 84.184 – School Safety National Activities Context: During our testing of grant expenditures, we selected a sample of transactions charged to major programs. In our sample, we identified duplicate costs totaling $8,535 that had been recorded twice in the accounting system and subsequently submitted for reimbursement under federal awards. The duplicate entries were not identified during the bank reconciliation process and were therefore included in reimbursement requests submitted to the grantor agencies. Cause: The ESU does not have sufficient controls in place to ensure that expenditures are tracked and reviewed across grants to prevent duplicate reimbursement. Potential Effect: Duplicate charging of costs results in noncompliance with federal requirements and may lead to questioned costs, repayment of federal funds, and increased scrutiny by grantor agencies. Recommendation: We recommend that the ESU strengthen procedures over grant expenditure tracking and review to ensure costs are charged to only one federal program. This should include implementing controls to identify duplicate charges prior to submission and improving coordination across grant reporting processes. Response: Management will review current grant tracking and reimbursement procedures and pursue improvements, as appropriate, to strengthen coordination across grant programs. Opportunities to enhance review processes prior to submission will also be considered to help minimize duplicate charges and support compliance with federal requirements.