Finding Text
Finding No. 2023-001: Allowable Costs/Cost Principles
Program: AL# 10.331 - Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GUSNIP/GUCRR)
Federal Grantor: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Criteria – Charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately
reflect the work performed. These records must:
I. Be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the
charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated;
II. Be incorporated into the official records of the non-Federal entity;
III. Reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non-Federal
entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities;
IV. Encompass both federally assisted and all other activities compensated by the non-Federal entity
on an integrated basis;
V. Comply with the established accounting policies and practices of the non-Federal entity;
VI. Support the distribution of the employee's salary or wages among specific activities or cost
objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award; a Federal award and non-
Federal award; an indirect cost activity and a direct cost activity; two or more indirect activities
which are allocated using different allocation bases; or an unallowable activity and a direct or
indirect cost activity.
Citation – 2 CFR 200.430 (i)
Condition – Salary expense allocated and charged to Federal awards did not agree to timesheet reports
that were signed by the employee and their direct supervisor. Additionally, timesheets were not properly
approved by a supervisor.
Cause – Budgeted rates were used to calculate the amount charged to the grant. Employees that worked
exclusively on the grant covered by the Federal award had timesheets to support the time spent on the
grant.
Effect – The amount of salary expense and related fringe benefits charged to the Federal award did not
meet the criteria outlined above. This leads to a risk that inaccurate charges could be made to the
Federal award.
Questioned Costs – None – the Organization was able to provide alternative methods to demonstrate that
costs charged to the grant were less than actual amount incurred.Context - For 2 out of 4 employees tested, the salary allocated did not agree to the timesheet reports.
Additionally, for 1 out 4 employees tested, the timesheet did not reflect a supervisor approval/signature as
required by the Organization’s handbook policy.
Repeat Finding - Yes - Finding 2022-003. Please see Summary Schedule of Prior Year Audit Findings.
Recommendation - We recommend that the Organization follows policies and procedures to ensure
compliance with proper payroll documentation. We also recommend that timesheets be used to support
all allocations as the basis for recording salary to the books and used as the source of costs that get
charged to Federal awards.
Views of Responsible Officials - See Corrective Action Plan.