Finding 49959 (2022-006)

Condition/Context: The District spent $52,380 of federal funding on equipment and services related to the Maricopa County Juvenile Detention Center. These expenditures were not authorized within the budget for the related grant as the Juvenile Detention Center is a separate entity from the District. Criteria: The District must follow the Uniform Guidance and adhere to the budgets approved by the Arizona Department of Education for allowable expenditures. Cause: The District did not have proper internal controls over grant disbursements to ensure only activity related to the District was recorded within their general ledger. Effect: Noncompliance and internal control weakness. Expenditures in the amount of $52,380 were recorded within the District?s general ledger that were for the juvenile detention center and not part of the District. Repeat Finding: No. Recommendation: We recommend that the District establish proper internal controls over processing expenditures to ensure that only those expenditures that are allowed and approved within the budget be spent out of grant funds. View of Responsible Official: The District?s corrective action plan presented in a separate document includes the views and planned corrective action of its responsible officials. We are not required to and have not audited these responses and planned corrective actions and therefore provide no assurances as to their accuracy. Contact person: Adrian De Alba, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction and Student Services and Bonnie Romo, Financial Services Coordinator.