Finding Text
Identification of the Federal Program: Assistance Listing Number: 16.922 Assistance Listing Title: Equitable Sharing Program Federal Agency: U.S. Department of the Justice Federal Award Identification Number: N/A Criteria or Specific Requirement (Including Statutory, Regulatory, or Other Citation): Per the U.S. Department of Justice Equitable Sharing Guidelines, participating agencies are required to submit an Annual Certification Report that is: - Accurate and complete, and - Supported by underlying accounting records, and - Consistent with reported expenditures and program activity The report must properly classify expenditures by category (e.g., equipment, salaries, overtime) and include all allowable uses of funds. Condition: During our review of the City’s Annual Certification Report for the Equitable Sharing Program, we noted that the U.S. Department of Justice requested the report to be revised updating overtime expenditures which were originally classified and reported under salaries (line item l) to be properly classified and reported under overtime (line item j). Additionally, the original and the revised reports submitted by the City omitted $20,000 of equipment expenditures (line item d). As a result, total expenditures were understated due to the omitted equipment costs. Cause: The discrepancy was due to an oversight during the revision process, where the City updated the classification of expenditures (salary to overtime) but did not perform a complete reconciliation of total expenditures after making the revision. As a result, while overtime was correctly reported, certain equipment expenditures were inadvertently omitted, leading to an understatement of total expenditures by approximately $20,000. Effect or Potential Effect: The omission resulted in an incomplete and inaccurate Annual Certification Report, as total expenditures reported to the Department of Justice were understated. Questioned Costs: None noted. Context: See condition above for the context of the finding. Identification as a Repeat Finding, If Applicable: No. Recommendation: We recommend the City implement a formal reconciliation and review process for the Annual Certification Report to ensure total expenditures reconcile to the general ledger, all expenditure categories are complete and accurately reported, and any revisions are followed by a full validation of completeness and accuracy prior to resubmission. Views of Responsible Officials: Management concurs with the finding and agrees to implement necessary corrective procedures.