Finding Text
Finding 2022-008: Unallowable cost?salary certification and personnel activity reports Repeat Finding Yes (2021-009) Federal Program Title: U.S. Department of Justice Passed through Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority 16.575; Crime Victim Assistance Award Year Award# 219040: March 23, 2021 ? May 31, 2022 Award# 220040: June 1, 2022 ? November 30, 2023 Criteria: Article 23 of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority grant agreement states that personnel who spend 100% of their time on the funded program must certify on a semi-annual basis. Additionally, Article 23 of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority grant agreement states that personnel who spend less than 100% of their time on the funded program must maintain Personnel Activity Reports (PAR) that accurately reflects the time the employee spends performing the program and any other duties. 2 CFR 200.430 requires that charges to federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. Condition: There were two employees designated as spending 100% of their time on the grant who did not complete their 100% Time Certificates. There were also seven employees allocated at less than 100% to the grant who did not complete any Personnel Activity Reports during the fiscal year. Of the Personnel Activity Reports that we were able to review, all were completed significantly after the fact rather than during the grant period tested. Cause: Due to turnover in program staffing, program oversight was not performed timely. Effect: Unallowable costs were submitted for reimbursement causing UCAN to be in noncompliance with Article 23 of the grant agreement. Questioned costs: We are unable to determine if the two employees allocated 100% to the grant actually worked 100% of their time on the funded program. These five selections resulted in $7,832 of questioned cost, based on the portion of the salary we tested. For the seven employees allocated at less than 100% to the grant, we are unable to determine the amount of time that the employees worked on the funded program, therefore 11 selections resulted in questioned costs of $13,395, representing the amount tested. In total, the questioned costs are $21,227. Context: Out of 12 employees tested who were allocated 100% to the grant, there were two employees where a self-certification was not completed during the year. This represented 2 out of 42 transactions tested. Out of 10 employees tested who were allocated to the grant at less than 100%, there were seven employees where a Personnel Activity Report was not completed during the year. Of the 18 transactions tested where personnel charged less than 100% to the grant, 11 of the Personnel Activity Reports were not prepared. Recommendation: We recommend that management improve internal controls for identifying and communicating compliance requirements per the grant agreement. Further, we recommend that management implement an internal control activity to verify that all employees charging 100% of their time to the funded program complete a self-certification on a semi-annual basis and that all employees charging less than 100% of their time to the funded program complete a Personnel Activity Report. All Personnel Activity Reports should be completed and reviewed timely. Views of responsible officials: Management agrees with this finding. Please see corrective action plan attached.