Finding 395116 (2023-001)

Material Weakness Repeat Finding
Requirement
P
Questioned Costs
$1
Year
2023
Accepted
2024-04-30
Audit: 305038
Organization: Norwood Life Society (IL)

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: Unauthorized loans were made to a related party without HUD approval, violating regulatory agreements.
  • Impacted Requirements: Compliance with HUD regulations prohibiting loans to affiliated entities without prior authorization.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Management should monitor related party transactions closely and seek HUD approval before any future fund transfers.

Finding Text

2023 – 001 Prohibited Loans or Advances to Affiliated Entities Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Program Name: Mortgage Insurance – Nursing Homes, Intermediate Care Facilities, Board and Care Homes and Assisted Living Facilities Assistance Listing Number: 14.129 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: N/A Award Period: N/A Type of Finding: Compliance and Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance Criteria or Specific Requirement: Paragraph 4(b) of the HUD regulatory agreement prohibits loans or advances to affiliated entities without HUD authorization. Condition: The project made unauthorized transfers of funds to a related party, which are considered loans without HUD approval. The Loans reduced funds available to the Organization to carry on its operations. Questioned Costs: $2,299,516 Context: The project made loans to a related party that was experiencing recuring losses from operations and persistent shortages of working capital and was in need of assistance to maintain its operations to avoid a significant disruption in the services it provides to its residents. Cause: Management deemed the transfer to be a necessary last resort to assist a related party organization to sustain its operations for a limited amount of time. Effect: The Project is not in compliance with the regulatory agreement regarding adherence to the transferring of funds between entities in the consolidated group. Repeat Finding: Yes. Recommendation: We recommended to Management that they continue to monitor related party transactions and request prior approval before any advances are made or considered to be made in support of other related parties in the future. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding. The unauthorized loan was due to an increasing intercompany balance due from an affiliated nursing home (Bethesda) who was losing money and unable to reimburse Norwood Crossing (the Project). Due to continued losses, Management realized this issue was unable to be resolved without disposing of Bethesda. The sale of Bethesda Home was set to be completed in 2022 but was delayed numerous times due to serious issues. The actual sale date occurred on July 1, 2023. Bethesda tried the best it could and repaid $1,025,000 in May 2023 prior to the completion of the sale. On July 17, 2023, the remaining intercompany balance of $1,274,316 was repaid in full to the Project.

Corrective Action Plan

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) Norwood Life Society respectfully submits the following corrective action plan for the year ended December 31, 2023. Audit period: January 1, 2023 – December 31, 2023 The findings from the schedule of findings and questioned costs are discussed below. The findings are numbered consistently with the numbers assigned in the schedule. FINDINGS—FEDERAL AWARD PROGRAMS AUDITS Department of Housing and Urban Development 2023-001 Mortgage Insurance_Nursing Homes, Intermediate Care Facilities, Board and Care Homes and Assisted Living Facilities – Assistance Listing No. 14.129 Recommendation: We recommended to Management that they continue to monitor related party transactions and request prior approval before any advances are made or considered to be made in support of other related parties in the future. Explanation of disagreement with audit finding: There is no disagreement with the audit finding. Action taken in response to finding: Rick Steffens, the CFO, will oversee this plan, and the plan has been implemented and fully resolved. The unauthorized loan was due to an increasing intercompany balance due from an affiliated nursing home (“Bethesda”) who was losing money and unable to reimburse Norwood Crossing for shared bills for items including benefits and insurance. Due to the size of the losses, we realized this issue was unable to be resolved without disposing of Bethesda and began working on selling Bethesda in the second quarter of 2022. Bethesda was supposed to close on the sale on November 30, 2022, which would have solved the intercompany issue during the 2022 audit year, which was our plan. However, the sale was continuously delayed due to numerous serious issues pushing the actual sale date all the way back to July 1, 2023. The audit finding for the unauthorized intercompany loan was for $1,724,731.69, and was a finding on the 2022 audit. However, the intercompany balance continued to grow in 2023 and had an additional $574,583.86 of expenses that built up in 2023 before the sale occurred. This made a grand total of $2,299,315.55 that needed to be repaid from Bethesda to Norwood Crossing for the unauthorized intercompany loans through the sale date. Bethesda worked to repay the intercompany loans the best it could during 2023 before the sale occurred, and completely paid down the remaining balance on the unauthorized intercompany loans shortly after the sale of Bethesda occurred. The following payments were made from Bethesda to Norwood Crossing: Payment Dates Payment Amounts 5/8/2023 $675,000.00 5/23/2023 $350,000.00 7/17/2023 $1,274,315.55 Total $2,299,315.55 These repayments above fully resolved the unauthorized intercompany loans that were 1) in the 2022 Audit as a finding, 2) increases that occurred in 2023 after the 2022 year end, and 3) the resolutions occurred before the 2022 audit was issued and only are a finding in the 2023 audit because the loans were not fully paid off as of 2022. Furthermore, Bethesda has officially been sold as of July 1, 2023 and is no longer causing this issue to continue to occur going forward. Name(s) of the contact person(s) responsible for corrective action: Rick Steffens Planned completion date for corrective action plan: July 17, 2023 If the Oversight Agency for Audit has questions regarding this plan, please call Rick Steffens at 773-577-5334.

Categories

Questioned Costs HUD Housing Programs Material Weakness Internal Control / Segregation of Duties Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 971558 2023-001
    Material Weakness Repeat

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
14.129 Mortgage Insurance_nursing Homes, Intermediate Care Facilities, Board and Care Homes and Assisted Living Facilities $1.64M
21.027 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds $469,875