Finding Text
Assistance Listing Number: 19.510
Federal Program Name: U.S. Refugee Admissions Program
Name of Federal Agency: Department of State
Compliance/Internal Control over Compliance: Allowable Costs Criteria: Federal award guidelines state an employee who works, in whole or in part, on a federal program or cost objective must document time and effort spent working on each federal program or cost objective. An employee who works solely on a single cost objective must furnish a semi-annual certification that he/she has been engaged solely in activities that support the single cost objective. An employee who works on multiple activities or cost objectives must complete a personnel activity report which demonstrates the amount of actual time spent working on the federal grant objectives, on at least a monthly basis. Cause: The Organization did not require all employees charged to the federal award to complete a time certification or personnel activity report prior to January 1, 2023. Condition: The Organization was unable to provide sufficient time and effort reporting documentation for all employees who were funded by the federal program prior to January 1, 2023. Questioned Costs: None. Effect: The Organization's payroll expenditures charged to the federal award were not adequately supported by time reporting documentation prior to January 1, 2023. There were 18 paychecks tested, of which 13 were for paychecks dated prior to January 1, 2023. The 13 paychecks tested totaled $23,749 of which $13,049 were for employees hired specifically for the program and fully charged to the program. Recommendation: We recommend the Organization implement a process to track employee's time and effort worked on federal programs. Views of responsible officials: We are in agreement with the finding. We have worked to create a system to accurately charge time to program activity based on actual hours worked. This was implemented in January 2023. Employees who are 100% on one program certify twice a year that they are still working only on the one program. Employees on more than one program are recording their time to correctly reflect split between programs on a spreadsheet. The senior accountant reviews for adjustments and corrects the financials as needed.