Finding Text
Criteria: The federal cost principles contained in the uniform guidance for administration of federal grants in Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 200 (the Uniform Guidance) specify which costs are allowable charges to federal programs, which costs are not allowable, and how costs charged to federal programs must be documented. LEAs must apply the Uniform Guidance to all federal funds that are subject to the cost principles. Section 200.430 specifies the standards for documenting salaries and wages charged to federal programs. These standards are in addition to those for payroll documentation. LEAs must adhere to these standards and to any additional standards established for particular programs. These standards require that employees funded through multiple cost objectives complete a personnel activity report (PAR) or equivalent documentation. The PAR or equivalent documentation must reflect an after‐the‐fact distribution of the actual activity of each employee, account for the total activity for which each employee is compensated, be prepared at least monthly and coincide with one or more pay periods and be signed by the employee.
Condition: The District prepared semi-annual certifications for employees whose salaries were charged to the Special Education programs, but they were not done throughout the year. We observed that the certifications were not signed until October 2023, well after the end of the fiscal year being audited.
Context: This deficiency was observed in all 25 employees we sampled from a population of 250. Effect: Failure to complete the certifications during the fiscal year could result in inaccurate charges for salaries and wages to the program.Cause: The District has experienced significant employee turnover and staffing shortages, leading to the finding. Questioned Costs: There is no question cost; however, the District charged $4,730,142 of salaries to the program during the 2022-23 fiscal year.
Recommendation: We recommend that the District ensure that the portion of employee salaries charged to all federal programs be documented in accordance with federal guidelines on a more timely basis.Views of Responsible Officials: Moving forward, the administrative assistant has spoken with all parties whose salaries are part of the federal program to ensure they understand the purpose and need for the forms and has calendared all future dates in which collection of forms is required.