Finding 1214488 (2025-001)

Material Weakness Repeat Finding
Requirement
B
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2025
Accepted
2026-05-12
Audit: 401196
Organization: Disability Rights Washington (WA)
Auditor: CLARK NUBER P S

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: There is a significant deficiency in internal controls over compliance with allowable costs for federal awards, leading to unsupported charges.
  • Impacted Requirements: Compliance with U.S. CFR 200, which mandates that expenditures must be accurately documented and allowable under federal guidelines.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: DRW should strengthen internal controls to ensure all costs charged to federal awards are properly documented and compliant.

Finding Text

Significant deficiency in internal controls over compliance related to allowable costs/cost principles compliance requirements. Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Program Title: Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Assistance Listing Number: 93.138 Awards Number: 1X98SM089592-01, 1X98SM090426-01 Award Period: 10/01/2023 - 9/30/2025, 10/01/2024 - 9/30/2026 Criteria 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) Subpart E require expenditures allocated to federal awards be supported by a system of internal controls which provides reasonable assurance that charges are accurate, allowable, properly allocated, and supported by adequate documentation. Condition/Context For the year ended September 30, 2025, in a sample of 40 non-payroll transactions, there were five instances of nonpayroll costs being charged to the award that were not supported by proper documentation of the allocation applied. Effect/Potential Effect DRW did not fully comply with the allowable cost principles as specified in Uniform Guidance. As a result, there may be charges to the award that are not adequately supported with documentation and may be unallowable. Questioned Costs $1,249 - Known questioned costs were computed based on the accumulation of the portion of transactions tested that lacked adequate documentation of allocation. Cause DRW’s internal controls related to nonpayroll costs allocation was not sufficient to prevent or detect errors in compliance with the standards and to ensure consistent treatment with policies and procedures. Repeat Finding Yes Recommendation We recommend that DRW implement internal controls to ensure that all costs charged to the federal awards are supported by proper documentation. Views of Responsible Officials Management agrees with the finding and has provided the corrective action plan following the Single Audit Report.

Corrective Action Plan

In Response to Single Audit Findings for September 30, 2025 Primary Contact Persons: Wally Tablit, Executive Director, wallyt@dr-wa.org and Justin Gifford, Fiscal Specialist, justing@dr-wa.org Findings: Finding 2025-001: Significant deficiency in internal controls over compliance related to allowable costs/cost principles compliance requirements. Corrective Action: DRW revised its allocation methods and approval processes during Fiscal Year 2025. This method will continue to be consistently applied to all transactions and will periodically be reviewed for accuracy and supporting documentation. Steps: 1. Continue to implement the revised allocation method which consistently uses staff hours recorded to each grant to determine allocation percentages for both payroll and non-payroll expenditures. 2. Ongoing review of current policies, procedures, and internal control documentation. 3. Ongoing review of agency cost allocation method and implementation as well as supporting records, level of effort and timekeeping systems to ensure proper level of documentation. 4. Review of Federal draw downs on at least a quarterly basis to ensure that sufficient documentation is available to justify expenditures and that approval flows are appropriately documented. 5. The process will be implemented by the Fiscal Manager, Fiscal Specialist, a third-party professional services consultant and overseen by the Executive Director. Anticipated Completion: May 2026

Categories

Allowable Costs / Cost Principles

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 1214487 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
96.009 SOCIAL SECURITY STATE GRANTS FOR WORK INCENTIVES ASSISTANCE TO DISABLED BENEFICIARIES $353,749
93.618 VOTING ACCESS FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES-GRANTS FOR PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY SYSTEMS $196,358
93.843 ACL ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY STATE GRANTS FOR PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY $96,259
93.873 STATE GRANTS FOR PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY SERVICES $93,719
93.630 DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES BASIC SUPPORT AND ADVOCACY GRANTS $945
93.138 PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS $375
84.240A PROGRAM OF PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS $254