Finding Text
Condition: SF-425 - Federal Financial Report and SF-429 - Real Property Status Report were not submitted by the due date. Criteria: All Head Start grantees are required to submit SF-429 to the Office of Head Start by January 30th each year. For 2022, the Foundation submitted the SF-429 report approximately 9 months after the due date, in September 2023. During the audit period, the Foundation was required to submit the SF-425 annual and semi-annual reports for Grant 04CH01047705 by July 30, 2022, and the annual report for Grant 04HE00054201C5 by April 30, 2022. In each instance, the required report was filed in excess of 2 months late. Cause: There were no specific procedures in place to ensure timely filing of the SF-429 report. For the SF-425 report, the Foundation filed their original report before the deadline. However, each report was subsequently rejected due to errors or incomplete data and the Foundation did not verify the status of the reports and correct the errors until well after the deadline had passed. Effect: The Office of Head Start received accurate SF-425 and SF-429 reports beyond the due date. Recommendation: Management should implement procedures to ensure that required reports are prepared, reviewed, and submitted before the deadline and verify each report has been accepted by the grantor in a timely manner. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: The Foundation agrees with the finding and procedures have been implemented.