Finding 387732 (2023-003)

2023-003 Department of Education, Passed Though the South Dakota Department of Education Federal Financial Assistance Listing Number 84.010 – Title I Grants to Local Educational Award Number – Unknown, Award Year – 2023 Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/ Cost Principles Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance Criteria: Observable controls should be in place to ensure that all timecards are reviewed by a direct supervisor prior to payroll being processed. Condition: During testing of allowable costs, it was noted that timecards were not being reviewed or approved by a direct supervisor. Cause: The School District did not have controls in place for review of timecards to occur outside of a higher-level review by the Business Manager. Effect: Payroll could be paid to employees for hours not worked or allocated to a federal program when they were not allowed costs of the program. Questioned Costs: None. Context/Sampling: A nonstatistical sample of 60 transactions out of 636 total transactions were selected for testing, which accounted for $24,700 of $156,828 of federal program expenditures. Repeat Finding from Prior Year(s): No Recommendation: We recommend the payroll timecards, including any adjustments, be reviewed and approved by the direct supervisor of the employees to ensure they are the correct hours worked and are correctly allocated to the federal program. Views of Responsible Officials: Management agrees with the finding.