Finding 23644 (2022-001)

-
Requirement
N
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2022
Accepted
2022-11-23
Audit: 19608
Organization: Partners Health Management (NC)
Auditor: Cla

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: An employee received a travel reimbursement meant for someone else due to lack of review.
  • Impacted Requirements: Disbursements must be accurately reviewed to prevent unauthorized payments.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Implement a review process for employee travel reimbursements to ensure accuracy.

Finding Text

2022 ? 001 Federal agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Federal program title: Block Grant for Community Mental Health Services CFDA Number: 93.958 Pass-Through Agency: North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Pass-Through Number(s): 536974, 536975 Award Period: July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 Type of Finding: Other Matter Criteria or specific requirement: In order to prevent unauthorized travel reimbursements to employees, disbursements must be reviewed for accuracy. Condition: During our testing, we noted that a reimbursement was paid to the incorrect employee for travel expenses. Questioned costs: None Context: The identified finding represented 1 of 40 of the employees sampled. Cause: Reimbursement was not reviewed prior to payment being made. Effect: An employee was reimbursed for travel expenses that were incurred by another individual. Repeat Finding: The finding is not a repeat of a finding in the immediately prior year. Recommendation: The Organization should design controls around an adequate review process to ensure that employee travel reimbursements are appropriate. Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.

Corrective Action Plan

001 Block Grant for Community Mental Health Services Recommendation: The Organization should design controls around an adequate review process to ensure that employee travel reimbursements are appropriate. Explanation of disagreement with audit finding: There is no disagreement with the audit finding. Action taken in response to finding: The employee paid in error has returned the $140, and the proper employee has been paid. We believe it should be noted, that except for a keying error, Partners followed established policy and procedure. The employee in question submitted an accurate reimbursement form, which was supervisor-approved and reviewed by Payroll personnel. After payroll deposits went out and pay statements were made available, the employee in question did not notify Payroll staff of an error. Partners is working with a third-party vendor to more fully automate the process of travel reimbursements in the future. Given current demands on staff with Medicaid Transformation, we are unable to fully execute automation until January 2023. Until such time, an additional layer of management post payment review has been added to the process. Given the tight turn-around time between employee submission deadlines and payroll processing, it is not feasible for an additional detailed review beforehand. Name of the contact person responsible for corrective action: Susan Lackey, CFO Planned completion date for corrective action plan: Additional Review - September 30, 2022; Process Automation ? January 2023. If the Department of Health and Human Services has questions regarding this plan, please call Susan Lackey at 704-842-6310.

Categories

Cash Management

Other Findings in this Audit

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
93.788 Opioid Str $5.31M
93.959 Block Grants for Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse $3.10M
93.958 Block Grants for Community Mental Health Services $2.51M
14.267 Continuum of Care Program $904,504
93.667 Social Services Block Grant $546,589
14.231 Emergency Solutions Grant Program $395,327
21.019 Coronavirus Relief Fund $325,458