Finding Text
Information on the federal program:
Higher Education Institutional Aid - Hispanic-Serving Institutions – Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics and Articulations Programs (Assistance Listing number 84.031C) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions – DHSI Program (Assistance Listing number 84.031S); United States Department of Education; Award Year 2022-23; Compliance Requirement – Allowable Costs; Type of Finding – Questioned Cost.
Criteria: 2 CFR Part 200 requires that compensation charged to a program must be adequately supported by documentation of the employee’s time.
Condition: For one employee, for all three paychecks included in the sample tested, 100% of salary was charged to the grant, but only 35% was supported by the time & effort records and program budget. For one paycheck tested for another employee, 100% was charged to the grant, but the supporting documentation indicated that this employee did not work on the grant program.
Cause: University management did not have controls in place to ensure that the correct salary amounts were charged to the grant.
Effect: Incorrect amounts could be charged to the grant.
Questioned Costs: Known questioned costs totaled $4,352, with likely questioned costs exceeding $25,000.
Context: Total payroll charged to this program for the year was $608,941.
Recommendations: Management should add a procedure to review payroll charges made to grants each pay period as compared to the time & effort documentation.
Responsible Official’s Response and Corrective Action Planned: see corrective action plan.