Finding 485416 (2023-001)

Section III – Federal Award Findings and Questioned Costs Finding 2023-001: Lack of Control Over General Expenses Criteria: Special Olympics’ internal control system should be properly designed to ensure allowable costs charged to grants are receiving the appropriate level of oversight and review and ensure only allowable costs are submitted for the grant award. Condition: A material weakness of internal control over compliance was identified related to general expense transactions. It was noted that Special Olympics submitted expenses to be reimbursed that were not allowable according to the grant agreement. This finding is in relation to testing over compliance requirements A (activities allowed or unallowed) and B (allowable costs/cost principles). The questioned costs were identified by the oversight agency and have been remedied. Cause: Special Olympics has not designed and implemented the internal control environment to ensure that expenses are receiving the proper documentation of approvals from management and are reviewed for the proper allocation to grants. Effect: Items submitted to the granting agency to be reimbursed were not allowable and did not receive an appropriate level of oversight from management. Recommendation: We recommend management implement a process to ensure that expenses receive the required oversight from management.