FINDING REFERENCE NUMBER 2024-022 (See Finding Reference Number 2024-003) FEDERAL PROGRAM (ALN – 10.542) PANDEMIC EBT FOOD BENEFITS (P-EBT) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AWARD NUMBERS 2301PR456S9032 (Federal Award Years: 10/1/2022 through 3/31/2024) ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATION FOR SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAMILY (ADSEF, BY ITS SPANISH ACRONYM) COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENT ACTIVITIES ALLOWED OR UNALLOWED // ELIGIBILITY // REPORTING TYPE OF FINDING INTERNAL CONTROL AND COMPLIANCE – MATERIAL WEAKNESS AND MATERIAL NONCOMPLIANCE CRITERIA Uniform Guidance at 2 CFR 200 §200.302, Financial Management, establishes that: “(a) Each State must expend and account for the Federal award in accordance with State laws and procedures for expending and accounting for the State's funds. All recipient and subrecipient financial management systems, including records documenting compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award, must be sufficient to permit the preparation of reports required by the terms and conditions; and tracking expenditures to establish that funds have been used in accordance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. (See § 200.450). (b) The recipient's and subrecipient's financial management system must provide for the following (see §§ 200.334, 200.335, 200.336, and 200.337): (1) Identification of all Federal awards received and expended and the Federal programs under which they were received. Federal program and Federal award identification must include, as applicable, the Assistance Listings title and number, Federal award identification number, year the Federal award was issued, and name of the Federal agency or pass-through entity. (2) Accurate, current, and complete disclosure of the financial results of each Federal award or program in accordance with the reporting requirements in §§ 200.328 and 200.329. When a Federal agency or pass-through entity requires reporting on an accrual basis from a recipient or subrecipient that maintains its records other than on an accrual basis, the recipient or subrecipient must not be required to establish an accrual accounting system. This recipient or subrecipient may develop accrual data for its reports based on an analysis of the documentation on hand. (3) Maintaining records that sufficiently identify the amount, source, and expenditure of Federal funds for Federal awards. These records must contain information necessary to identify Federal awards, authorizations, financial obligations, unobligated balances, as well as assets, expenditures, income, and interest. All records must be supported by source documentation. In accordance with the approved State Plan, no summer 2023 P-EBT benefits may be issued to children who did not attend an NSLP-participating school at the end of the school year immediately preceding the summer. STATEMENT OF CONDITION As part of our internal control procedures for the financial management system regarding reporting requirements, we found the following deficiencies regarding the only report submitted during the fiscal year of September 30, 2023: • The amount reported as total Federal share of outlays (line 10.g.), was $35,356,789, and the amount of $879,121 (line 10.h) as total unliquidated obligations. The accounting system (PRIFA) reported total expenditures in the amount of $36,235,910, which is the sum of lines 10.g and 10.h. No unliquidated obligations are included in the database of PRIFA. • In addition, we noted an expenditure dated October 31, 2023, in the database for $92,157 that was not reported. This amount was not included as unliquidated obligation in the report of September and no other report was submitted that included this expenditure. • We have no administrative expenses recorded in the database; however, the reports provided listed $307,733 as administrative expenses. In relation to the allowable activities, we obtained a list of all participants that received the benefits. We noted that the information provided from SAIC system does not agree with the reports provided by Service EBT Provider. We noted that the lists of emissions from June 2023 through October 2023 totalized $36,181,839, in accordance with a list from SAIC. Emissions from the Service EBT Provider and accounting records presented expenditures in the amount of $36,328,067, a total difference of $146,228. This difference represents 1,052 participants that are not in the list provided from SAIC, but whose benefits were issued according to the reports from the Service EBT Provider. In relation to the evaluation of the eligibility requirements, we noted that 27 participants were duplicated in the lists from SAIC. In addition, we were unable to verify if the participant attended a private school that participated in the NSLP, because no evidence of the lists from the Puerto Rico Department of Education was provided. QUESTIONED COSTS $146,228. This amount is the total amount of benefits issued for 1,052 participants whose information was not provided. PERSPECTIVE INFORMATION These deficiencies are a systemic problem that is related to lack of proper training and segregation of duties when reporting (preparer and reviewer not being the same person). No proper internal controls are in place to ensure that all data used to issue the benefits is safeguarded and properly reconciled with accounting records. STATEMENT OF CAUSE ADSEF did not establish and implement adequate internal controls to ensure the accuracy, completeness, and supervisory review of financial information used in the preparation of Federal reports. In addition, financial data reported to the Federal agency was not consistently reconciled to the supporting accounting records and database prior to submission. Furthermore, no proper records are maintained of the data used to issue the benefits and how the reconciliation process from the SAIC system and benefits processed by the Service EBT Provider is made. POSSIBLE ASSERTED EFFECT The discrepancies between reported amounts and supporting records, along with lack of supervisory review, create a risk that Federal reports are inaccurate, incomplete, or unsupported, resulting in noncompliance with Federal reporting requirements. We were unable to verify the complete lists of beneficiaries of the P-EBT. IDENTIFICATION OF REPEAT FINDING This is a repeat of a finding reported in the prior audit as Finding Numbers 2023-001/2023-029. RECOMMENDATIONS We recommend that management establish an internal control process that includes having more than one person review the reports submitted to the Federal government. In addition, we recommend proper internal controls that require a structured process of compiling, reviewing and safeguarding all required data for benefits issued.