Finding 2750 (2022-004)

Material Weakness
Requirement
AB
Questioned Costs
$1
Year
2022
Accepted
2023-11-30
Audit: 4754
Organization: Launch Alaska (AK)

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: There are inadequate internal controls over payroll costs, leading to unsupported salary expenses charged to the program.
  • Impacted Requirements: Compliance with 2 CFR Part 200.403.g, which mandates proper documentation for allowable costs.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Launch Alaska should implement a system to track employee eligibility and maintain documentation for payroll costs associated with each program.

Finding Text

Finding 2022-004 Lack of Internal Controls over Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Federal Agency: Office of Naval Research Federal Program: Office of Naval Research Technology and Innovation Development in Alaska ALN Number: 12.300 Award Number: N00014-19-1-2030 Award Years: 2022 Type of Finding: Material Weakness over compliance and noncompliance Criteria: 2 CFR Part 200.403.g states that costs must be adequately documented in order to be allowable under Federal awards. Condition and Context: There was not an adequate system in place to track the payroll costs charged to this program. The client was unable to provide support for the salary expenses charged to this program, or support for which employees were eligible to be paid from this award, making it impossible to test transactions for allowable costs. Cause: Lack of internal control over allowable payroll transactions charged to the major program. Repeat Finding: This is not a repeat finding. Effect: The lack of supporting documentation allows for the potential for misstatement of expenditures due to employees being incorrectly charged to funding sources for which their payroll is an unallowable cost. Questioned Costs: The total amount of salary and fringe expenditures charged to the program was $749,570. Recommendation: We recommend that Launch Alaska begins to maintain documentation for employees eligible to charge to various programs, as well as maintaining documentation for tracking the payroll costs charged to each program. Management Response: Management concurs with this finding. See Corrective Action Plan.

Corrective Action Plan

Finding 2022-004 Lack of Internal Control over Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Name of Contact Person: Tracy Bye, CFO Response: Launch Alaska takes exception to the auditors’ findings. Launch Alaska codes expenses in accordance with the Launch Alaska Policy and Procedures for Uniform Guidance, GAGAS and FAR Part 31. Only those supported expenses that are allowable and allocable to Federal grants are charged to grant GL accounts. FY22 has examples of costs being segregated and posted to appropriate accounts based upon these cost principles. The CFO has over 30 years of GAGAS and FAR Part 31 experience and has final authority over which costs are coded for Federal reimbursement. Records for the transactions reside within QBO and the former CPAs JE files. All transactions for the covered period were reviewed by the CEO and CPA prior to entry into QBO. The CFO reviewed the postings monthly and requested changes to the GL coding when required. These changes were recorded by the CPA via AJE. We agree that the CPA did not post corrections in a timely manner in most cases. The Business Manager and new CPA review the expense entries weekly and at the close of each monthly period. The CEO/CFO have final authority on GL coding and are required to approve each expense entry prior to payment to ensure that the Policy and Procedures for Uniform Guidance is adhered to. This process takes place in both Ramp and QBO. Proposed Completion Date: Launch Alaska updated its Policy and Procedures for Uniform Guidance in early FY22 and is completing a second review at this time to incorporate the system and internal process changes discussed above. A final draft of the changes is expected to be reviewed for adoption by the Launch Alaska Finance Committee Board members in November 2023.

Categories

Questioned Costs Allowable Costs / Cost Principles

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 2751 2022-005
    Material Weakness
  • 579192 2022-004
    Material Weakness
  • 579193 2022-005
    Material Weakness

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
12.300 Basic and Applied Scientific Research $1.27M
81.010 Office of Technology Transitions (ott)-Technology Deployment, Demonstration and Commercialization $186,747
11.307 Economic Adjustment Assistance $73,058