Finding Text
Finding 2022-006 – Payroll Allocation
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Treasury
Federal Program Name: Immigrant And Refugee Housing Assistance Project
Assistance Listing Number: 21.023
Pass-Through Agency: Illinois Department of Human Services
Pass-Through Number: FCSAK05923
Award Period: July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Federal Program Name: 21st Century Community Learning Centers
Assistance Listing Number: 84.287
Pass-Through Agency: Illinois State Board of Education
Pass-Through Number: 21-4421-25-65-108-9335-51, and 22-4421-25-65-108-9335-51
Award Period: July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022
Type of Finding:
Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance
Criteria or Specific Requirement:
Under allowable cost/cost principles, an organization in receipt of federal funding is required to have a system of controls in place to safeguard assets and ensure that only allowable costs are charged to federal programs. 2 CFR 200 states that changes to awards for salaries and wages are to be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated. The Organization is required to maintain documentation supporting the time and effort spent by employees toward the efforts of the Federal program.
Condition:
Through audit procedures performed, we noted that there was no supporting documentation for the payroll allocation process to different funding sources and no evidence of timesheet approval as per the client's key control.
Questioned Costs:
None
Context:
We noted that there was no supporting documents for the payroll allocation process to different funding sources and no evidence of timesheet approval as per the client's key control.
Cause:
The Organization changed payroll providers between the fiscal years under audit and the time that fieldwork was performed, and was unable to go back and pull the relevant time sheets. Additionally, back-up was not maintained for the allocation process.
Effect:
Not maintaining the documentation for internal controls may result in inaccurate vouchers submitted for federal funds. Inaccurate payroll costs may be charged to federal programs.
Repeat Finding:
The finding is a repeat finding in the immediately prior year. Prior year finding number was 2021-005.
Recommendation:
We recommend that management follow established policies and procedures for the allocation of employee costs across the Organization's grants and programs. All supporting documentation of time sheets and allocation procedures should be maintained. Additionally, preparer and reviewer sign-offs should be documented with sign-offs and dates.
Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions:
There is no disagreement with this finding. Enlace Chicago was unable to provide timesheets to our auditors for FY21 as we transitioned payroll providers in December of 2021. Despite assurances from the prior provider, at the time of request, they were unable to produce prior period timesheets. Despite our inability to generate the timesheets requested, Enlace Chicago requires all staff to complete timesheets in order to process payroll. Providing timesheets for future periods will not be an issue moving forward.
Name of the contact person responsible for corrective action: Laura Velazquez, Director of Budget and Planning
Planned completion date for corrective action plan: June 30, 2023.