Finding 1221502 (2025-003)

Material Weakness Repeat Finding
Requirement
L
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2025
Accepted
2026-06-30
Audit: 405801
Organization: Hips (DC)

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: Financial reports for federal awards were not submitted on time due to staff turnover and data collection challenges.
  • Impacted Requirements: Compliance with financial reporting requirements is critical to avoid penalties like payment withholding or award termination.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: HIPS should create a tracking system for timely report submissions and establish internal controls for accurate reporting and documentation.

Finding Text

Finding 2025-003: Financial Reporting Information on the Federal Program: Assistance Listing Number 93.788 Criteria or Specific Requirement: HIPS is required to comply with applicable statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal awards pertaining to financial reporting requirements. Condition: We noted certain financial reports did not have timely submissions of required reports on the awards under audit.Cause: Reporting deadlines proved challenging to meet due to the turnover of key staff and the administrative burdens associated with gathering the data necessary to complete the reports. Report submissions for certain awards did not have supporting documentation for the date of submission due to the information not being available in the system that the reports are submitted to. Effect or Potential Effect: Noncompliance with financial reporting requirements could potentially result in the withholding of future payments, award suspension or termination, and ineligibility of future awards. Questioned Costs: None. Context: The exceptions noted during the audit pertained to all Department of Human and Health Services (HHS) awards under audit for the year ended September 30, 2025. Identification as a Repeat Finding, if Applicable: Yes (2024-005) Recommendation: HIPS should implement a system to track and ensure the timely submission of all financial reports as required by the award agreements. This includes reviewing the terms and conditions of each award to identify mandatory reporting requirements, and establishing internal controls to ensure accurate and timely reporting. Submission of reports should be retained internally for documentation purposes.

Corrective Action Plan

Views of Responsible Officials: HIPS experienced significant delays in receiving approved budgets, Notice of grant awards (NOGAs) and Purchase Orders (POs) from the grantors. HIPS cannot submit reports without these documents. For these reasons, HIPS could not meet the requirement "timely submission of required reports". We hope that in the future, HIPS will receive the pre-requisite documentation on time. In addition, the grantors' systems are set in a chronological order and therefore even in instances where HIPS is ready to submit reports HIPS can only submit one month and wait for that month's report to be approved before HIPS can submit the next month. This system,albeit important in grant management, limits HIPS ability to fulfil "timely submission of required reports" requirements. HIPS will improve documentation on this issue.

Categories

Procurement, Suspension & Debarment Eligibility Reporting Internal Control / Segregation of Duties

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 1221495 2025-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1221496 2025-003
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1221497 2025-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1221498 2025-003
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1221499 2025-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1221500 2025-003
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1221501 2025-002
    Material Weakness Repeat

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
93.788 OPIOID STR $853,616
93.136 INJURY PREVENTION AND CONTROL RESEARCH AND STATE AND COMMUNITY BASED PROGRAMS $331,787
93.940 HIV PREVENTION AND SURVEILLANCE ACTIVITIES-HEALTH DEPARTMENT BASED $119,099
93.944 HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS (HIV)/ACQUIRED IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS SYNDROME (AIDS) SURVEILLANCE $74,432