Finding 47575 (2022-001)

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Requirement
B
Questioned Costs
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Year
2022
Accepted
2023-07-09
Audit: 51669
Organization: Housing Forward (IL)

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: Timesheets lack detailed tracking of hours worked across multiple grants, leading to potential inaccuracies in salary allocations.
  • Impacted Requirements: Compliance with 2 CFR 200.430, which mandates accurate records for salary charges to federal awards.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Revise timesheets to include a breakdown of hours by grant and reinforce the importance of accurate time tracking among staff.

Finding Text

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT Continuum of Care, CFDA # 14.267 2022-001: Criteria: According to 2 CFR 200.430 i(i)(vii) charges to federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed and there should be support to the distributions of the employee?s salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award. Condition: In gaining our understanding of controls over payroll, we noted the following control: the majority of the employees at Housing Forward and Subsidiary work for only one grant with the exception of management that may work for two. We viewed 40 timesheets related to the CoC program of which twelve showed the employee working for multiple grants but did not include the number of hours worked for each program on the timesheet, it was tracked through management and staff. Cause: The timesheets that were missing a breakdown of time and effort applied to each grant did not have a detailed tracking of hours by grants to remind employees to allocate their time by grant. The allocation was made based on a percentage rather than the actual time worked. Effect: The hours charged to a program could be under or overstated based budget compared to actual hours that should be documented on the timesheets. Auditor?s Recommendation: We recommend that the timesheets revised to either have ability to breakout the hours per day by grant and remind staff the importance to track their time by funder. Management Response: Employees have transitioned to submitting time and effort bi-weekly within the ADP payroll system to ensure timeliness of allocation of wages. Hours will be reported based on actual time worked in projects, even when employees are working in a single project. These hours are used to allocate salaries and wages and unpaid time off bi-weekly. Fringe benefits will be allocated on a monthly basis using the allocation of hours for that month. Allocation of hours and coding is reviewed by the Finance department for accuracy and allowance before submittal of payroll. If changes are needed after processing, Finance staff will work with staff to correct time and effort reporting through a manual time and effort report.

Corrective Action Plan

Re: 2022 Single Audit Finding Hi Ron, Below is our response to the 2022 Single Audit finding listed in Part 3: Findings and questioned costs ? Major Federal Award Programs Audit; Finding # 2022-001; Criteria: According to 2 CFR 200.430 i(i)(vii) charges to federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed and there should be support to the distributions of the employee?s salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award. Condition: In gaining our understanding of controls over payroll, we noted the following control: the majority of the employees at Housing Forward and Subsidiary work for only one grant with the exception of management that may work for two. We viewed 40 timesheets related to the CoC program of which twelve showed the employee working for multiple grants but did not include the number of hours worked for each program on the timesheet, it was tracked through management and staff. Cause: The timesheets that were missing a breakdown of time and effort applied to each grant did not have a detailed tracking of hours by grants to remind employees to allocate their time by grant. The allocation was made based on a percentage rather than the actual time worked. Effect: The hours charged to a program could be under or overstated based budget compared to actual hours that should be documented on the timesheets. Response ? Management Employees have transitioned to submitting time and effort bi-weekly within the ADP payroll system to ensure timeliness of allocation of wages. Hours will be reported based on actual time worked in projects, even when employees are working in a single project. These hours are used to allocate salaries and wages and unpaid time off bi-weekly. Fringe benefits will be allocated on a monthly basis using the allocation of hours for that month. Allocation of hours and coding is reviewed by the Finance department for accuracy and allowance before submittal of payroll. If changes are needed after processing, Finance staff will work with staff to correct time and effort reporting through a manual time and effort report. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at mfaust@housingforward.org or 708.338.1724 ext. 263

Categories

Allowable Costs / Cost Principles Reporting

Other Findings in this Audit

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
14.267 Continuum of Care Program $3.36M
21.027 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds $1.04M
14.276 Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program $902,089
14.231 Emergency Solutions Grant Program $680,307
64.024 Va Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program $365,806
14.218 Community Development Block Grants/entitlement Grants $253,176
93.959 Block Grants for Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse $231,342
94.006 Americorps $180,233
97.024 Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program $44,103
93.391 Activities to Support State, Tribal, Local and Territorial (stlt) Health Department Response to Public Health Or Healthcare Crises $28,286
21.019 Coronavirus Relief Fund $8,692