Finding 34733 (2022-002)

Significant Deficiency
Requirement
I
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2022
Accepted
2023-08-29
Audit: 33563
Organization: City of Durango (CO)
Auditor: Eide Bailly

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The City failed to provide accurate GAAP financial data, leading to material adjustments in the financial statements.
  • Impacted Requirements: Internal controls for financial reconciliation were inadequate, resulting in overstated deferred revenues and understated intergovernmental revenues.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Enhance year-end financial close controls and implement secondary reviews to ensure compliance with grant reporting and procurement policies.

Finding Text

2022-001 Material Audit Adjustments Material Weakness Criteria: The City is required to provide accurate GAAP basis financial data for preparation of the annual financial statements. Additionally, a good system of internal accounting control contemplates an adequate system for recording, processing and reconciling account balances to the financial statements and ensuring cutoff is accurate for accounts receivable, deferred revenue and related revenues. Condition: Based on audit procedures performed as of December 31, 2022, we identified the following material adjustment that was recorded in order to fairly present the financial statements in accordance with GAAP: ? We identified a material audit adjustment related to recognizing intergovernmental revenue and reducing deferred revenue to match the expenditures reported in the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program within the grants fund. Cause: The City?s financial statement reconciliation controls failed to prevent, or detect on a timely basis, material errors in the financial statements that were noted. Effect: Deferred revenues were overstated, and intergovernmental revenues were understated for the Grants Fund. Management has posted a correcting journal entry to correct the error and properly report the balances in the December 31, 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. Recommendation: We recommend management improve controls related to year-end financial close to ensuring grant revenues are properly reported in line with restrictions noted within grant agreements. Department heads and/or key personnel within the accounting department may also consider performing secondary reviews to ensure accuracy of financial reporting to ensure proper GAAP required cutoff procedures have been followed. Views of Responsible Officials: Agree 2022-002 U.S. Department of Treasury Passed-Through Colorado Department of Local Affairs Federal Financial Assistance Listing 21.027 COVID-19 State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Procurement and Suspension and Debarment Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance Criteria: The OMB Compliance Supplement states that Non-Federal entities are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under covered transactions to parties that are suspended or debarred. Non-Federal entities may verify that a party is not suspended or debarred by checking the Excluded Parties List System, collecting a certification from the entity, or adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction. Condition: Suspension and debarment verification procedures were not always performed prior to entering into covered transactions. Cause: The City?s controls surrounding the procurement process failed to properly address the potential of suspension and debarment through the performance of System for Award Management (SAM) checks. Effect: Contractors may not be aware of required terms and conditions and payments could be made to recipients who were suspended or debarred. Questioned Costs: None Context/Sampling: A statistical sample of 8 of the 24 unique vendors who were paid with State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds included 5 contracts subject to the City?s procurement policy. Of those 5 contracts, we noted 4 instances where the City had not retained documentation that a SAM check had occurred. Report Finding from Prior Year(s): No Recommendation: We recommend the City improve controls surrounding the performance of SAM checks and adhere to all aspects of their procurement policy including procurement and suspension and debarment. We recommend that the City retain documentation of all SAM checks performed before entering into contracts where vendors receive federal awards. Views of Responsible Officials: Management agrees with the finding.

Corrective Action Plan

2022-001 Material Audit Adjustments Material Weakness Criteria: The City is required to provide accurate GAAP basis financial data for preparation of the annual financial statements. Additionally, a good system of internal accounting control contemplates an adequate system for recording, processing and reconciling account balances to the financial statements and ensuring cutoff is accurate for accounts receivable, deferred revenue and related revenues. Condition: Based on audit procedures performed as of December 31, 2022, we identified the following material adjustment that was recorded in order to fairly present the financial statements in accordance with GAAP: ? We identified a material audit adjustment related to recognizing intergovernmental revenue and reducing deferred revenue to match the expenditures reported in the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program within the grants fund. Cause: The City?s financial statement reconciliation controls failed to prevent, or detect on a timely basis, material errors in the financial statements that were noted. Effect: Deferred revenues were overstated, and intergovernmental revenues were understated for the Grants Fund. Management has posted a correcting journal entry to correct the error and properly report the balances in the December 31, 2022, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. Corrective Action: Management will improve controls related to the year-end financial reconciliation process to ensure grant revenues are properly reported in line with restrictions noted within grant agreements. Deferred revenue will be reconciled quarterly working with Department heads and the Grant Contracts Specialist. Personnel within the accounting department will perform secondary reviews to ensure the accuracy of financial reporting to ensure proper GAAP required cutoff procedures have been followed. Anticipated Completion date: The City has corrected the financial statements for the 2022 reporting period and will create the new financial reports and implement additional year-end controls on or before December 2023.Views of Responsible Officials: Agree. The person responsible for overseeing the corrections is Devon Schmidt devon.schmidt@durangogov.org 970-759-0140. 2022-002 U.S. Department of Treasury Passed-Through Colorado Department of Local Affairs Federal Financial Assistance Listing 21.027 COVID-19 State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Procurement and Suspension and Debarment Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance Criteria: The OMB Compliance Supplement states that Non-Federal entities are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under covered transactions to parties that are suspended or debarred. Non-Federal entities may verify that a party is not suspended or debarred by checking the Excluded Parties List System, collecting a certification from the entity, or adding a clause or condition to the covered transaction. Condition: Suspension and debarment verification procedures were not always performed prior to awarding contracts related to federally funded transactions. Cause: The City?s controls surrounding the procurement process failed to properly address the potential of suspension and debarment through the performance of System for Award Management (SAM) checks. Effect: Contractors may not be aware of required terms and conditions, and payments could be made to recipients who were suspended or debarred. Corrective Action: The City will improve controls surrounding the performance of SAM checks and adhere to all aspects of their procurement policy, including procurement, suspension, and debarment. The Grants Specialist will be responsible for communicating grant-funded projects to the Purchasing team and completing the SAM checks prior to awarding the contractor. The City retains documentation of all SAM checks performed before entering contracts where vendors receive federal awards. Views of Responsible Officials: Agree. The person responsible for overseeing the corrections is Devon Schmidt devon.schmidt@durangogov.org 970-759-0140.

Categories

Procurement, Suspension & Debarment

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 611175 2022-002
    Significant Deficiency

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
20.106 Airport Improvement Program $1.77M
20.106 Covid-19-Airport Improvement Program $1.43M
20.509 Formula Grants for Rural Areas and Tribal Transit Program $1.38M
21.027 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds $420,022
15.524 Recreation Resources Management $150,415
20.526 Buses and Bus Facilities Formula, Competitive, and Low Or No Emissions Programs $132,000
15.228 Blm Fuels Management and Community Fire Assistance Program Activities $114,845
20.513 Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities $73,500
14.228 Community Development Block Grants/state's Program and Non-Entitlement Grants in Hawaii $48,000
93.439 State Physical Activity and Nutrition (span $24,750
16.607 Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program $8,650
16.543 Missing Children's Assistance $4,300
20.616 National Priority Safety Programs $986
15.904 Historic Preservation Fund Grants-in-Aid $600