Finding Text
CRITERIA: Supporting documents are to be maintained to support federal award expenditures for a period of 3 years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report. STATEMENT OF CONDITION:Management was unable to provide supporting documentation for amounts included on expense reports during the year for the Refugee Entrant Assistance Program. Every month an expense report is prepared by the program manager and their fiscal assistant. The process of preparing this expense report involves the use of an Excel sheet that summarizes the individual transactions for the month into the categories that they will be grouped into on the final expense report. This Excel file was not maintained in the client’s records and was deleted after the process was completed. Without the Excel file, we were unable to obtain a complete and accurate listing of all expenses that were reimbursed. STATEMENT OF CAUSE:Financial and program staff did not maintain all workpapers that were part of the grant expense report creation workflow process. This was likely due to inexperience with compliance with large federal assistance programs. EFFECT: Expenses may have been reimbursed which did not qualify for the program. QUESTIONED COSTS: $ 18,263 of expenditures. CONTEXT: The failure to maintain all relevant records pertaining to the grant program was consistent throughout the period ending December 31, 2022. REPEST FINDING: No RECOMMENDATION:Management of the organization needs to maintain complete accounting records to support the grant expenditures claimed during the year which identifies them to a particular program. VIEW OF RESPONSIBLE OFFICIALS AND PLANNED CORRECTIVE ACTION 1. Enhanced Documentation Process: Starting immediately, every grant expenditure will be accompanied by detailed documentation that clearly identifies its relation to a particular program. This will ensure transparency and ease of traceability. 2. Training & Awareness: We will provide additional training to our accounting and program teams to ensure that they are fully aware of the new documentation requirements and understand their importance. 3. Regular Review: We will conduct periodic internal reviews of our grant expenditure records to ensure that the new procedures are being consistently followed and that there are no gaps in documentation.