Finding Text
Federal Agencies: Department of Health and Human Services Federal Assistance Listing Numbers: 93.110 Program: Maternal and Child Health Federal Consolidated Programs Pass-Through Entity Identifying Numbers: N/A Criteria: The Uniform Guidance in 2 CFR Section 200.303 requires that non-Federal entities receiving Federal awards (i.e., auditee management) establish and maintain internal control designed to reasonably ensure compliance with Federal statues, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. Per 2 CFR Section 200.431 - Compensation - Fringe Benefits: ?The cost of fringe benefits in the form of employer contributions or expenses for social security; employee life, health, unemployment, and worker's compensation insurance (except as indicated in ? 200.447); pension plan costs (see paragraph (i) of this section); and other similar benefits are allowable, provided such benefits are granted under established written policies. Such benefits, must be allocated to Federal awards and all other activities in a manner consistent with the pattern of benefits attributable to the individuals or group(s) of employees whose salaries and wages are chargeable to such Federal awards and other activities, and charged as direct or indirect costs in accordance with the non-Federal entity's accounting practices.? Per 2 CFR Section 200.430 - Compensation ? Personnel Services: ?Standards for Documentation of Personnel Expenses (1) Charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must: (vii) Support the distribution of the employee?s salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award; a Federal award and non-Federal award; an indirect cost activity and a direct cost activity; two or more indirect activities which are allocated using different allocation bases; or an unallowable activity and a direct or indirect cost activity. (viii) Budget estimates (i.e., estimates determined before the services are performed) alone do not qualify as support for charges to Federal awards, but may be used for interim accounting purposes, provided that: a. The system for establishing the estimates produces reasonable approximations of the activity actually performed. b. Significant changes in the corresponding work activity (as defined by the non-Federal entity?s written policies) are identified and entered into the records in a timely manner. Short-term (such as one or two months) fluctuation between workload categories need not be considered as long as the distribution of salaries and wages is reasonable over the longer term; and c. The non-Federal entity?s system of internal controls includes processes to review after-the-fact interim charges made to a Federal award based on budget estimates. All necessary adjustment must be made such that the final amount charged to the Federal award is accurate, allowable, and properly allocated.? In addition, per 2 CFR Section 200.403 regarding all direct costs: ?Except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet the following general criteria in order to be allowable under Federal awards: (a) Be necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles. (b) Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in these principles or in the Federal award as to types or amount of cost items. (c) Be consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally-financed and other activities of the non-Federal entity. (d) Be accorded consistent treatment. A cost may not be assigned to a Federal award as a direct cost if any other cost incurred for the same purpose in like circumstances has been allocated to the Federal award as an indirect cost. (e) Be determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), except, for state and local governments and Indian tribes only, as otherwise provided for in this part. (f) Not be included as a cost or used to meet cost sharing or matching requirements of any other federally-financed program in either the current or a prior period. (g) Be adequately documented.? Condition: We noted that Safe & Sound allocated fringe benefits during 2022 based on a flat percentage of salaries charged to the grant based on a methodology determined during the budget making process. The methodology was isolated to charges of fringe benefits. In addition, shared costs (e.g., insurance and occupancy) during 2022 were charged on a monthly basis as one twelfth of the total budgeted amount for the year. The methodology was isolated to certain shared costs. Safe & Sound does not have a process in place to true-up certain costs charged based on budget during interim periods to actual amounts. Context: Total fringe benefits charged to the grant were $38,534. Total shared costs charged to the grant were $16,536. Cause: Safe & Sound did not have policies and procedures in place to review and reconcile the budgeted amounts of fringe benefits or shared costs charged to the actual expenditures incurred. Effect or Potential Effect: Without adequate controls in place to ensure costs based on budgeted totals are reasonable and reconcile to the actual time spent on the program, Safe & Sound could incorrectly charge expenditures to the federal program, or not request appropriate reimbursement. Safe & Sound is entitled to under the terms of the grant. Questioned Costs: $55,070 Identification as a Repeat Finding: Not Applicable. Recommendation: We recommend that Safe & Sound implement policies and procedures to review for any necessary budget to actual adjustments, and we recommend that sufficient documentation be maintained to support any adjustments made as required by 2 CFR 200.430. In addition, we recommend training be provided to staff on requirements of their federal grants. Views of Responsible Officials: Management agrees with the finding. Management will implement policies and procedures to ensure a true up between budget and actual is completed and ensure all actuals are properly supported.