Finding Text
2022-001 ? Time and Effort ReportingAssistance Listing Number: 19.510Federal Program Name: U.S. Refugee Admissions ProgramName of Federal Agency: Department of StateCompliance/Internal Control over Compliance: Allowable CostsCriteriaFederal award guidelines state an employee who works, in whole or in part, on a federal program or costobjective must document time and effort spent working on each federal program or cost objective. Anemployee who works solely on a single cost objective must furnish a semi-annual certification thathe/she has been engaged solely in activities that support the single cost objective. An employee whoworks on multiple activities or cost objectives must complete a personnel activity report whichdemonstrates the amount of actual time spent working on the federal grant objectives, on at least amonthly basis.Cause:The Organization did not require all employees charged to the federal award to complete a timecertification or personnel activity report.ConditionThe Organization was unable to provide sufficient time and effort reporting documentation for allemployees who were funded by the federal program.Questioned costsThe entire sum of the amounts tested $59,532 are a questioned cost. Total salaries and related payrolltaxes reimbursed under the federal program were approximately $217,979. Of this total approximately$118,470 were for employees that were hired exclusively for the federal program.EffectThe Organization's payroll expenditures charged to the federal award were not adequately supported bytime reporting documentation.RecommendationWe recommend the Organization implement a process to track employee's time and effort worked onfederal programs.Views of responsible officialsWe are in agreement with the finding. The past fiscal year had a significant increase in federal programdollars awarded to Arrive Ministries related to the Afghan Resettlement Program (APA), causing a needto rapidly hire more staff to fulfill this contract. In addition, we had an unexpected change inmanagement that caused a short-term variance in management process and guidance. This resulted in thefindings sited by the audit. The short-term variances are already corrected, and we intend to implementways to improve our processes to specifically address each of the findings. We intend to quicklyimplement a process to have employees certify the time and effort reporting charged to the federallyfunded program. This will be done by having time charged to the program reviewed and certified by theemployee for accuracy on a monthly basis. Adjustments will be made to the financial as needed.