Finding 485158 (2023-001)

Federal agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Federal program name: Foster Care Title IV-E Assistance Listing Number: 93.658 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: 2301MNFOST, 2023 Pass-Through Agency: Minnesota Department of Human Services Pass-Through Number: 2301MNFOST Award Period: Fiscal year 2023 Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance Criteria or specific requirement: A nonfederal entity must: (i) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award 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); (ii) Comply with the U.S. Constitution, Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award; (iii) Evaluate and monitor the non-Federal entity’s compliance with statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of Federal awards; (iv) Take prompt action when instances of noncompliance are identified including noncompliance identified in audit findings; and (v) Take reasonable measures to safeguard protected personally identifiable information and other information the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity designates as sensitive or the non-Federal entity considers sensitive consistent with applicable Federal, State, local, and tribal laws regarding privacy and responsibility of confidentiality. Condition: During our testing of casefile review, we identified one participant that did not have appropriate action taken to resolve issues noted during the initial stage of review. Questioned Costs: Unknown Context: The reviewer of the casefile was informed that correction action was taken and in the following quarter there was no exception reported for this same issue. Cause: Controls were insufficient to ensure this process occurred. Effect: The County has a review process to catch errors in casefiles, however, if the County does not remedy errors fully, there can still be compliance issues outstanding after review. Repeat Finding: No Recommendation: We recommend the County reviews its procedures to ensure all casefile reviews are documented and all issues in the casefiles are followed up on and remedied properly. Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the finding.