Finding Text
Federal Award Identification: Multiple Notice of Awards were issued during fiscal year ended June 30, 2025 Federal program: Health Center Program Cluster Assistance listing number: 93.224, 93.527 Federal agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Pass-through Entity: Not applicable - direct award Award year: Fiscal year ended June 30, 2025 Criteria: Under the Uniform Guidance and the Health Center Program Cluster requirements, costs charged to federal awards must be allowable, reasonable, and allocable to the program. Payroll costs charged to the Health Center Program Cluster must be based on actual compensation earned for time worked and must be supported by effective internal controls to ensure payroll amounts are accurately calculated and recorded in accordance with applicable cost principles. Condition: During our audit, we identified instances in which payroll for salaried employees hired mid pay period was processed for the full pay period rather than prorated based on the actual hire date. As a result, payroll costs charged to the Health Center Program Cluster did not fully reflect the period worked for those employees. Testing identified two instances during the fiscal year in which this condition occurred. Context: The deficiency was identified during dual purpose testing of payroll disbursements for the Health Center Program Cluster and further evaluated through expanded procedures over the population of salaried employees hired during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025. Cause: The condition resulted from internal control procedures related to payroll proration for salaried employees hired mid pay period not being consistently applied or documented during the audit period. Contributing factors included staffing changes and competing operational priorities, which affected the consistent execution of payroll review controls. Effect: As a result of this deficiency, there is an increased risk that payroll costs charged to the Health Center Program Cluster may include amounts that are not fully allowable or allocable to the program. Expanded procedures identified two isolated instances from the population tested, which did not result in material noncompliance with program requirements; however, the deficiency increases the risk that unallowable payroll costs could be charged to the program if not detected and corrected timely. Known questioned costs: None. Repeat finding status: This is a new finding for the year ended June 30, 2025. Recommendation: Wallace should implement controls to ensure payroll for salaried employees hired mid pay period is appropriately prorated based on hire date prior to charging payroll costs to the Health Center Program Cluster. Management should also establish a documented review process to identify and correct payroll adjustments before payroll costs are charged to federal awards. Views of responsible officials: Management agrees with the finding. While payroll processing was completed accurately overall, management acknowledges that certain payroll review and documentation procedures were not consistently documented and/or performed during the audit period. Staffing changes and competing operational priorities contributed to these inconsistencies. Management has begun enhancing payroll review and documentation practices to promote consistent application of established procedures and to reduce the risk of similar issues occurring in the future. Management remains committed to maintaining effective internal controls over compliance to ensure payroll costs charged to federal awards are allowable and appropriately supported.