Finding 21873 (2022-004)

Significant Deficiency
Requirement
N
Questioned Costs
$1
Year
2022
Accepted
2023-07-27
Audit: 20936
Organization: Brillare Beauty Institute, INC (TN)
Auditor: Sikich LLP

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: Credit balances were not paid on time for one student, violating compliance requirements under heightened cash monitoring.
  • Impacted Requirements: The institution failed to credit student accounts before requesting funds, breaching the terms of the Program Participation Agreement.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Enhance controls over credit balance payments to ensure timely compliance and avoid significant deficiencies in the future.

Finding Text

FINDING 2022-004: UNTIMELY PAID CREDIT BALANCES WHILE ON HIGHTENED CASH MONITORING 1 PAYMENT METHOD FEDERAL AGENCY: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PROGRAM NAME: FEDERAL DIRECT LOAN PROGRAM ALN#: 84.268 FEDERAL AWARD YEAR: 2021-2022 Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions (N.) Criteria: Under the heightened cash monitoring payment method, an institution must credit a student's ledger account for the amount of Title IV, HEA program funds that the student or parent is eligible to receive, and pay the amount of any credit balance due before the institution submits a request for funds (34 CFR 668.22). Condition: We tested seventy-one files and credit balances were not paid in a timely manner for one student. We consider this finding to be a significant deficiency. Cause: The condition was caused by not paying credit balances prior to requesting funds. Effect: As a result, the Institution was holding funds that needed to be returned to the students and violated the special conditions of provisional certification of its Program Participation Agreement (PPA). Question Costs: $689 Statistical sampling was not used when making sample selections. See schedule of findings and questioned costs for chart/table Recommendation: We recommend the Institution increase controls over the payment of credit balances. We are issuing a significant deficiency for this attribute as the conditions of Heightened Cash Payment Monitoring 1 have not been adhered to for the audit period. Views of Responsible Officials: The Institution agrees with the Single Audit Finding and a response is included in the Corrective Action Plan.

Corrective Action Plan

FINDING 2022-004: Untimely Paid Credit Balance A. Comments on Findings and Recommendations: In response to the untimely paid credit balance, Brillare Beauty Institute agrees with the Single Audit Finding 2022-003. B. Actions Taken or Planned: Brillare Beauty Institute had resolved the student account credit balance issue but not in the required time. Brillare Beauty Institute hired an additional Financial Aid Officer in February 2022 to help with administering the Title IV program. The new position gave the institute the ability to have an additional set of eyes reviewing many of our processes to ensure compliance. At the time of this error, training of the new employee was still in process.

Categories

Questioned Costs Student Financial Aid Special Tests & Provisions Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking Subrecipient Monitoring Reporting Significant Deficiency

Other Findings in this Audit

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.268 Federal Direct Student Loans $1.31M
84.063 Federal Pell Grant Program $911,834
84.425 Education Stabilization Fund $257,869