Finding Text
2022-001 Reconciling grant claims to general ledger Criteria: Processes and procedures should be in place to reconcile grant expenditures claimed to the financial records. Condition: WCASA has several grants that require tracking of actual costs charged and claimed against each grant. Spreadsheets are used to track grant budgets and actual expenditures claimed against the financial accounting system. During the year a clerical error was made, and a claim was submitted that was more than actual expenditures incurred for that period. To reconcile this, WCASA reduced future claims to make up for the error but ended up not claiming all of the expenditures incurred through the process. Cause: WCASA had turnover in the financial and accounting position. The original error was physically made by the previous accounting employee and was not fully discovered by the new accounting employee until the audit was in process. Effect: As a result of the reconciliation error, an additional claim needed to be submitted for the remaining contract balance to agree to actual expenditures incurred and an adjustment to record additional accounts receivable was necessary. Auditor?s Recommendation: While we know that the organization has a good process for reviewing and submitting claims, we recommend that a process be established for making sure any adjustments or corrections are documented. Additionally, that any such corrections be updated in all the supporting documentation to ensure that subsequent claims are supported by internal documentation and that the financial records are updated as necessary. Grantee Response: WCASA is aware of the importance of proper internal controls over financial and grant reporting. Unfortunately, a clerical error was made that was not fully reconciled before yearend. In addition, turnover in accounting personnel happened after the clerical error and the new staff was not aware that additional corrections were still necessary. WCASA will continue to review its procedures and ensure that the accounting records are reviewed and reconciled as necessary.