Finding Text
FINDING 2022-001 Information on the federal program: Subject: Child Nutrition Cluster ? Internal Controls Federal Agency: Department of Agriculture Federal Program: School Breakfast Program, National School Lunch Program Assistance Listing Numbers: 10.553, 10.555 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirement: Reporting Audit Finding: Material Weakness Criteria: 2 CFR section 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal awards in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ." Condition: An effective internal control system was not in place at the School Corporation in order to ensure compliance with requirements related to the grant agreement and the reporting compliance requirement. Cause: The School Corporation's management had not developed a system of internal controls to ensure accurate information was presented in order to be in compliance with the reporting requirements. Effect: The failure to establish an effective internal control system placed the School Corporation at risk of noncompliance with the grant agreement and the compliance requirements. A lack of effective reviews could have also allowed noncompliance with the compliance requirements and allowed the misuse and mismanagement of federal funds and assets by the review process not ensuring there was accurate reporting of the activities of the programs. Questioned Costs: There were $619 of known questioned costs identified. The known questioned costs were calculated taking the number of meals overclaimed times the IDOE reimbursement rate for lunch for the month in which the error was noted. The net overclaimed reimbursement amount was $619. Context: We noted that for one claim in a sample of four, the school lunch meal count was overclaimed for the month. We noted that in October 2020 the School Corporation had overclaimed lunches by 173 meals. We noted that the sponsor claim reimbursement form had been reviewed, however, the lack of an effective review allowed the error to go unnoticed. Identification as a repeat finding, if applicable: No. Recommendation: We recommend that the School Corporation establish a review control to verify the sponsor claim reimbursement summaries are correct. This review should be performed by someone other than the individual submitting the claims and we recommend this review be formally documented. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: Management agrees with the finding and has prepared a corrective action plan.