Finding Text
Federal Award Allowable Activities and Cost Requirements
Payroll Approval
Federal Awarding Agency - Department of Health and Human Services Assistance Listing Number - 93.044, 93.045, 93.053, 93.052
Federal Awarding Agency - Department of Veteran Affairs Assistance Listing Number - 64.044
Questionned Costs - None
Criteria: 2 CFR Part 200 in general and 2 CFR section 200.303(a) require non-Federal entities to establish and maintain effective internal controls over Federal awards, including the requirements for allowable costs and cost principles. 2 CFR section 200.430(i)(1) requires that charges to Federal awards or salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. The 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) And be incorporated into the official records of the non-Federal entity.
Condition: We identified two pay periods in our testing where internal controls related to review of the payroll reports did not have evidence of all required approvals necessary to ensure compliance with allowable costs and cost principles before funds were disbursed or such approvals were not able to be located.
Cause: Evidence of review over two payroll reports selected for testing were not able to be located due to transition in CFO position during the year.
Effect: Allowable costs and cost principles compliance requirements may not be met due to lack of evidence of internal controls.
Recommendation: We recommend that the review of all payroll reports be documented and maintained to ensure costs are allowable before they are disbursed.