Finding 1229322 (2025-001)

Material Weakness Repeat Finding
Requirement
L
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2025
Accepted
2026-09-10
Audit: 410784
Organization: Town of Swampscott (MA)
Auditor: CBIZ CPAS PC

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The Town reported $741,238 less in expenditures than required for the federal award period.
  • Impacted Requirements: The Town failed to comply with Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200.303 by not maintaining effective internal controls over compliance.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Enhance internal controls to ensure accurate and complete reporting of expenditures for federal awards.

Finding Text

Criteria: According to Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200.303, the non-federal entity must establish and maintain effective internal controls over compliance for federal awards to provide reasonable assurance of compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal awards. The Town was required to submit an annual project and expenditure report for the period of April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025 by April 30, 2025. Condition: The amount of actual expenditures for the period 4/1/2024 - 3/31/2025, was $2,512,252; however, when completing the Project & Expenditure Report for the period ended March 31, 2025, the Town only reported actual expenditures of $1,771,014. Also the cumulative amount of expenditures that should have been reported was $3,396,464; however the Town only reported $2,655,227. In both cases the difference is $741,238. Cause: The reason for the $741,238 is due to the Town not reporting expenditures for the period of 1/1/2025 - 3/31/2025. In other words, the Town only reported expenditures covering 9 months of the reporting period. The Town’s internal controls over compliance were not sufficient to identify that the Project and Expenditure Report was omitting expenditures for the period of 1/1/2025 through 3/31/2025. Effect: Incorrect reporting can effect the administration of the program by the grantor. Questioned Costs: None. Recommendation: We recommend that the Town enhance their internal controls over the requirements of this program to ensure those preparing and reviewing the reports have the appropriate understanding and information needed to ensure completeness and accuracy of information being reported.

Corrective Action Plan

Planned Corrective Action: The next subsequent Project and Expenditure report to be filed for this program will include the expenditures incurred for the period of 1/1/2025-3/31/2025 that were previously unreported. A second person will review subsequent reports for this program for accuracy prior to submission to reduce the risk of non-compliance with program rules. Anticipated Completion Date: April 30th, 2026 Person Responsible for Corrective Action: Patrick Luddy (Director of Finance, Town of Swampscott, MA) Patrick Luddy

Categories

Reporting Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking Internal Control / Segregation of Duties

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 1229321 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
21.027 COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL RECOVERY FUNDS $475,909
10.555 NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM $278,565
16.710 PUBLIC SAFETY PARTNERSHIP AND COMMUNITY POLICING GRANTS $99,245
10.553 SCHOOL BREAKFAST PROGRAM $79,147
97.044 ASSISTANCE TO FIREFIGHTERS GRANT $38,950
84.173 SPECIAL EDUCATION PRESCHOOL GRANTS $19,730
84.027 SPECIAL EDUCATION GRANTS TO STATES $19,648
84.010 TITLE I GRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES $11,717
45.310 GRANTS TO STATES $4,966
97.042 EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE GRANTS $4,600
84.365 ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACQUISITION STATE GRANTS $4,144
84.424 STUDENT SUPPORT AND ACADEMIC ENRICHMENT PROGRAM $3,939
84.367 SUPPORTING EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION STATE GRANTS (FORMERLY IMPROVING TEACHER QUALITY STATE GRANTS) $2,516
20.600 STATE AND COMMUNITY HIGHWAY SAFETY $1,569