Finding Text
US Department of Health and Human Services Passed through the NC Dept. of Health and Human Services Program Name: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Cluster CFDA # 93.558 Finding: 2022-008 Inadequate Documentation in case files SIGNIFICANT DEFICIENCY "Criteria: Per Section 200.303 of the Uniform Grant Guidance, a non-federal entity must establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. The State has provided policies and procedures to ensure that the County is meeting the federal guidance, relevant policies are: Work First Policy 108 (I) and (II) describes the residency requirements and the verifications required by the County. The policy also list out the acceptable documentation to verify address and residency. Work First Policy 104 describes the Mutual Responsibility Agreement and includes the signature requirements and any exceptions. Work First Policy 114 describes the income that is countable and not countable to the household for determining financial eligibility. Additionally, it also provides the types of verifications needed for each type of countable income and procedures related to verifying changes in income (i.e. termination, end of contract, temporary, etc.)." Condition: There were a total of 5 errors found in our testing: 1 instance where state residency evidence was not included in the case file, 1 instance where a signed mutual responsibility agreement was not included the case file, 1 instance where child support income was not updated in NCFAST, and 2 instances where there was no evidence that required income verifications were completed. Questioned Costs: There was no known affect to eligibility and there were no known questioned costs. Context: We examined 25 of 1,406 TANF recipients from the TANF Eligibility Population Report provided by NC DHHS. The finding is being reported with the financial statement audit as it relates to TANF administrative cost compliance audit. Effect: Due to the errors noted, eligibility cannot be sufficiently substantiated and there is a risk that the County could provide funding and/or benefits to individuals who are not program eligible. Cause: Ineffective documentation/recordkeeping and case review process. Recommendation: The County should provide training of management and staff on the program's eligibility requirements, proper case review process, and required verifications for eligibility. Also, the County should ensure that their formal internal review process is adequately completed to identify and correct errors in case reviews. Views of responsible officials and planned corrective actions: The County agrees with the finding and is implementing actions to correct these issues, which are further discussed in the corrective action plan.