Finding Text
FINDING 2022-008 Subject: Special Education Cluster (IDEA) ? Activities Allowed or Unallowed, Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program: Special Education Grants to States, Special Education Preschool Grants Assistance Listing Number: 84.027, 84.173 Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): 20611-109-PN01, 21611-109-PN01, 21619-109-PN01 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed, Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Audit Findings: Material Weakness Criteria: 2 CFR 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (c) 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). . . ." 2 CFR 200.403 states in part: "Except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet the following general criteria in order to be allowable under Federal awards: (e) Be necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles. (f) Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in these principles or in the Federal award as to types or amount of cost items. . . . (i) Be adequately documented. . . . Condition: An effective internal control system was not in place at the School Corporation to ensure compliance with the requirements related to the grant agreement and the Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles compliance requirements. Cause: The School Corporation's management had not designed or implemented internal controls which would have ensured compliance with the compliance requirements listed above. Effect: The failure to establish an effective internal control system could enable material noncompliance to go undetected. Noncompliance with the grant agreement and the compliance requirements listed above could have resulted in the loss of funds to the School Corporation. Questioned Costs: There were no questioned costs identified. Context: The School Corporation had not properly designed or implemented internal controls over recording transactions for payroll and fringe benefit disbursements to ensure the accuracy and classification of the payroll disbursements. Payroll disbursements make up 100% of the program costs charged to the Special Education grants. One employee was responsible for processing payroll. Payroll reports were submitted to the School Board and Treasurer for review and approval; however, the reports only provided a total gross amount paid from each fund. The reports did not list the employees who were paid from the fund. In March 2021, the Treasurer implemented a review of the payroll distribution report by fund and individual employee. The lack of controls related to payroll disbursements was isolated to the 2020-2021 year. Identification as a repeat finding, if applicable: Yes, see Finding 2020-006 Recommendation: We recommended management continue to document controls surrounding payroll disbursement through review of the payroll distribution report each pay period. Views of Responsible Officials: Management agrees with the finding and has implemented their corrective action plan.