Finding Text
Finding 2025-002: Late Submission of Financial Reports (significant deficiency) Condition: During our testing of expenditures that occurred during the year ended December 31, 2025, we identified three (3) of the six (6) required SF-425 Federal Financial Reports were not submitted timely. Report Required Submission Date Actual Submission Date Days Late 2023-CA Q4 January 30, 2026 February 5, 2026 6 2024-CA Q2 July 30, 2025 August 11, 2025 12 2025-CA Q3 October 30, 2025 November 19, 2025 20 41 Criteria: Federal financial reporting requirements for the National Urban Search and Rescue Deployment & Response System require subrecipients to submit SF-425 Federal Financial Reports within 30 days of the end of each calendar quarter and semi-annual performance reports by January 30 and July 30 of each year. These requirements are established in the applicable grant agreements and are consistent with the reporting requirements described in the OMB Compliance Supplement. Timely reporting is necessary to allow FEMA to monitor grant activity, assess program performance, and ensure accountability over federal funds. Cause: The District identified the following contributing factors for each late submission: 2023-CA Q4 (6 days late) – the reporting deadline fell on a weekend. District personnel did not complete and submit the report prior to the weekend, and submission occurred the following business week. 2024-CA Q2 (12 days late) – the reporting deadline coincided with an active deployment of Missouri Task Force 1 (MO TF-1). During the deployment period, District administrative personnel were managing multiple concurrent operational and administrative demands, and the federal financial report was not submitted prior to the deadline. 2025-CA Q3 (20 days late) - the federal grant reporting portal administered by FEMA was unavailable due to the federal government shutdown that occurred from October through November 2025. The District submitted this report when the portal became accessible following the shutdown. Effect: Failure to submit required federal financial reports by the applicable deadlines constitutes noncompliance with grant agreement terms. Late reporting reduces FEMA's ability to monitor program activity and expenditures on a timely basis. The noncompliance is limited to the timeliness of reporting as no financial misstatement or questioned costs were identified in connection with these late submissions. Recommendation: The District should implement a formal reporting calendar that identifies all federal grant reporting deadlines across active grant agreements and establishes internal due dates sufficiently in advance of federal deadlines to allow for review and timely submission. The reporting calendar should account for foreseeable constraints such as weekends and operational contingencies related to TF-1 deployments. Regarding the late submission of the 2025-CA Q3 report, the District should contact FEMA to determine whether deadline relief was formally granted during the government shutdown period and retain documentation of any such communication for its grant files. District’s Response: The District acknowledges the audit finding regarding the late submission of the SF-425 Federal Financial Reports. As a result, the District will implement and enforce procedures to ensure that future required reports are submitted timely.