Finding Text
FINDING 2022-003 Subject: Child Nutrition Cluster ? Internal Controls Federal Agency: Department of Agriculture Federal Program: School Breakfast Program, National School Lunch Program Assistance Listing Numbers: 10.553, 10.555 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirement: Reporting Audit Finding: Material Weakness Criteria: 2 CFR section 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal awards in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ." Condition: An effective internal control system was not in place at the School Corporation in order to ensure compliance with requirements related to the grant agreement and the reporting compliance requirement. Cause: The School Corporation's management had not developed a system of internal controls to ensure accurate information was presented in order to be in compliance with the reporting requirements. Effect: The failure to establish an effective internal control system placed the School Corporation at risk of noncompliance with the grant agreement and the compliance requirements. A lack of effective reviews could have also allowed noncompliance with the compliance requirements and allowed the misuse and mismanagement of federal funds and assets by the review process not ensuring there was accurate reporting of the activities of the programs. Questioned Costs: There were $60 of known questioned costs identified. The known questioned costs were calculated taking the number of meals (both breakfast and lunch) overclaimed or underclaimed times the IDOE reimbursement rates for lunch and breakfast for the month tested. The net overclaimed reimbursement amount for the four months tested was $60. Context: For all four monthly claims selected for testing, there was no formal evidence of the sponsor claim reimbursement summary being reviewed by someone independent of who prepared the sponsor claim reimbursement summary prior to submission. Additionally, we noted that for one claim in the sample of four, the meal counts were overclaimed for the month. In October 2020, the School Corporation overclaimed breakfast by 43 meals and underclaimed lunch by 11 meals. Identification as a repeat finding, if applicable: No. Recommendation: We recommend that the School Corporation establish a review control to verify the sponsor claim reimbursement summaries are correct. This review should be performed by someone other than the individual submitting the claims and we recommend this review be formally documented. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: Management agrees with the finding and has prepared a corrective action plan.