Finding Text
2025 – 003 Period of Performance Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Federal Program Name: Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Assistance Listing Number: 93.568 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: G-2402LLIEA 10/1/2023 Pass-Through Agency: Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Pass-Through Numbers: 24-221038; 24-224038 Award Period: October 1, 2023 through August 31, 2025; June 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025 Type of Finding: • Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance Criteria or Specific Requirement: Uniform Grant Guidance (2 CFR 200.303) requires non-federal entities receiving federal awards to establish and maintain internal controls designed to reasonably ensure compliance with federal laws, regulations, and program compliance requirements. Effective internal controls should include procedures to ensure that costs charged to federal awards are reviewed and approved for compliance with the allowable period of performance and that documentation evidencing such review is retained. Condition: Although payroll transactions charged to the federal award were reviewed to verify they were incurred within the allowable period of performance, documentation evidencing such review was not retained. Questioned Costs: None Context: 9 of 9 payroll transactions tested lacked documentation of review and approval. Cause: The County does not have a formal process in place to ensure documentation of the review and approval of payroll transactions charged to the federal award is consistently retained. Effect: Without documentation of review and approval, there is an increased risk of unauthorized or inaccurate payroll charges being processed, which could result in noncompliance with federal requirements and potential repayment obligations. Repeat Finding: The finding is a partial repeat of a finding in the prior year. The prior year finding number was 2024-003. Recommendation: We recommend the County review and strengthen its internal controls to ensure that costs charged to federal awards are reviewed and approved for compliance with the allowable period of performance and that documentation evidencing such review is retained. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.