Finding 380738 (2023-001)

Finding 2023-001: Reporting – Special Reporting Student Financial Assistance Cluster U.S. Department of Education Award Period: July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023 Criteria: Schools are required to report to the Department of Education (DOE), via the COD (Common Origination and Disbursement) system, the Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate (FISAP). Per the 2023 Compliance Supplement, this electronic report is submitted annually to receive funds for the campus-based programs. The institution uses the Fiscal Operations Report portion to report its expenditures in the previous award year and the Application to Participate portion to apply for the following year. By October 1, 2022, the institution should submit its FISAP that includes the Fiscal Operations Report for the award year 2021–2022 and the Application to Participate for the 2022–2023 award year. Condition: There were inadequate review controls in place to prevent the input of incorrect figures into the FISAP report. Context: For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, the supporting documentation for the FISAP did not tie to the report that was submitted through COD for the following lines in Part II, Section F: 1) Line 29 Column C per the FISAP noted 0 students compared to 8 students in the underlying support. 2) Line 29 Column E, per the FISAP noted 0 compared to 16 students in the underlying support. 3) Line 34, Column E, per the FISAP, noted 12 students compared to 11 in the underlying support. Cause: The College's Executive Director of Financial Aid was unaware of any errors when submitting the FISAP report to the DOE via COD. Therefore, the review process was not precise enough to detect any errors before submitting to COD. Effect: The FISAP initially submitted through COD did not accurately reflect the College’s underlying records. Questioned Costs: None. Repeat Finding: No. Recommendation: We recommend that management conduct a more thorough review of the FISAP report before submitting to the DOE so that any errors are rectified. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action: There were three data entry errors entered when submitting the FISAP for fiscal year 2023. The two sections reported zero (0) students were erroneously skipped, thus no data was entered, even though the support document had students listed there. One section where 12 students were reported but the support document had 11 was due to the excel support spreadsheet formula error that counted an additional column by mistake causing a data entry error. After the FISAP submission, the mistakes were discovered. The FISAP was reopened and the data was corrected. In completing the annual FISAP, the College will conduct a more thorough multi-level review of entries and support documents before submitting the report to the DOE. The College implemented the corrective action on October 18, 2023 retroactive to July 1, 2023 and was able to resubmit the FISAP. Individual Responsible for Corrective Action: Wilbert Casaine, Executive Director of Student Financial Aid Anticipated Completion Date for Corrective Action: Completed