Finding Text
Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance; Material Noncompliance - Special Tests and Provisions - Housing Quality Standards Criteria Management is required to perform on-site inspections and maintain adequate documentation to determine compliance with property standards and verify the information submitted by the owners. Condition As a result of our testing, we found the Council did not maintain sufficient documentation to support that required inspections were performed in accordance with program requirements. In addition, controls over documenting and retaining evidence of inspections were not operating effectively. Accordingly, we identified both an instance of noncompliance and a related deficiency in internal control over compliance. Cause Management did not maintain or retain complete inspection documentation and did not have adequate procedures in place to ensure inspection records were consistently prepared, reviewed, and retained. Effect Without sufficient documentation, the Council is unable to demonstrate compliance with inspection requirements and the operation of related internal controls. This increases the risk that noncompliance, errors, or deficiencies may not be identified or corrected in a timely manner. Recommendation We recommend management strengthen its documentation retention and monitoring procedures to ensure inspection activities are consistently performed, documented, and retained in support of compliance and control requirements. Questioned Costs None. Management's Response Management has implemented new procedures to ensure monthly inspections are formally documented and maintained.