Finding 381086 (2024-001)

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Requirement
L
Questioned Costs
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Year
2023
Accepted
2024-03-19
Audit: 295839
Organization: Pine Grove Area School District (PA)
Auditor: Jones & CO PC

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The District failed to accurately file the required Reconciliation of Cash on Hand Quarterly Report for the grant ending June 30, 2023.
  • Impacted Requirements: The District did not report actual grant expenditures, violating the requirement to maintain a system for tracking and reporting grant expenditures.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Ensure proper use of the CSIU accounting system and implement new procedures for timely and accurate reporting of grant expenditures.

Finding Text

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 2023-0l Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund ll Assistance Listing No. 84.425; Year Ended June 30,2023. Criteria and Condition: The District is required to maintain a system for accumulating and reporting expenditures incurred of its' grant awards. This includes filing the Reconciliation of Cash on Hand Quarterly Reports for each Grant which requires them. The District must report actual grant expenditures incurred thru the applicable report date. The District did not accurately file the required report for the Quarter Ended June 30,2023. Context: Our test of the Quarterly Cash Reports for the Quarter ended June 30, 2023 indicated the District did not file the required report. Cause: The inaccurate filing of the required report appears to have been caused by an oversight and failure of the Federal Program Coordinator to correspond with the Business Office with any changes to the subledger with the District General Ledger. Effect: The project incurred expenditures and cash position thru June 30,2023 were not reported to PDE as required. Questi oned Cosfs.' None Recommendation: We recommended that the District properly utilize their CSIU accounting system to accumulate the costs incurred and that the required reports be accurately filed. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: Once notified by us the District immediately established the proper account structure in its accounting system to gather the program expenditures to properly and timely file the required reports. The Business Manager also implemented new procedures to gather and review costs charged. to the applicable federal grant so as to properly and timely file the required reports.

Corrective Action Plan

The District accepts and acknowledges that the Quarterly Cash Reports for the Quarter ended June 30, 2023 were not correct in their entirety. The error occurred due to miscommunication between the Federal Programs Coordinator (who was also the Director of Curriculum at that time who is no longer employed in the District) and the Business Administrator. ln order to appropriately and completely expend various streams of ESSERs funding, the Curriculum Director revised his budget multiple times, moving expenditures that were originally budgeted to be expended from one grant to another grant. Although all the Federal funding received was expended on qualifying and appropriate expenditures, the failure occurred when the former Federal Programs Coordinator did not inform the Business Manager that he was making these numerous budget adjustments. As such, the final Quarterly Cash Reports as of June 30, 2023 were filed with incorrect amounts. Corrective Actions: Prior to the local audit as of 6130123, the Business Manager and new Federal Programs Coordinator (who is also the new Curriculum Director) identified that the budget transfers discussed above were not communicated properly. lt was also determined that all expenditures charged against the grants were appropriate and allowed. ln order to prevent this from occurring again in the future, the Business Manager and Federal Programs Coordinator now meet monthly to discuss the status of all Federal Funding, to discuss any and all planned expenditures to ascertain their allowability and to ensure compliance under the Federal Grants, and to verify that the Federal Program Coordinator's internal budget exactly matches what is recorded in the District's accounting system.

Categories

Reporting Internal Control / Segregation of Duties

Other Findings in this Audit

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.425 Education Stabilization Fund $598,882
84.010 Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies $317,794
10.553 School Breakfast Program $105,138
84.027 Special Education_grants to States $55,844
10.555 National School Lunch Program $51,463
84.367 Improving Teacher Quality State Grants $47,610
84.424 Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program $25,278
84.173 Special Education_preschool Grants $4,599
93.778 Medical Assistance Program $3,931
10.649 Pandemic Ebt Administrative Costs $628