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FINDING 2022-007 Subject: CDBG - Entitlement Grants Cluster - Reporting Federal Agency: Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Programs: Community Development Block Grants/Entitlement Grants, COVID-19 - Community Development Block Grants/Entitlement Grants Assistance Listings Number: 14.218 Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): B-19-MC-18-0015, B-20-MC-20-0015, B-20-MW-18-0015, B-21-MC-18-0015, B-22-MC-18-0015 Compliance Requirement: Reporting Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Modified Opinion Repeat Finding This is a repeat finding from the immediately prior audit report. The prior audit finding number was 2021-004. Condition and Context Financial Reporting For each CDBG award, the City is required to submit financial reports to Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The financial reports to be submitted are a quarterly CDBG Cash on Hand (PR29) report and an annual CDBG Financial Summary (PR26). The Community Development Specialist prepared the annual PR26 and quarterly PR29 reports without evidence of a review or an approval process to ensure accuracy of the reports submitted. During the audit period, there were three PR26 reports and six PR29 reports due. Four reports were selected for testing, two PR26 reports and two PR29 reports. One of the two PR26 reports was not supported by the City's records, and one of the two PR29 reports contained errors when reporting cash on hand. Performance Reporting The City is required to enter HUD 60002, Section 3 Summary Report, Economic Opportunities for Low- and Very Low-Income Persons report (Section 3) activities on the closeout screens in the Integrated Disbursement and Information System (IDIS), as well as within the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER). The Section 3 report was not submitted on the closeout screens in the IDIS as part of the closeout process. The City did submit the Section 3 information within the CAPER; however, the Section 3 information was not supported by the City's records. The City was not able to provide documentation supporting the Section 3 information in the CAPER. Special Reporting for Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) Under the requirements of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (Pub. L. No. 109-282) (Transparency Act), recipients (i.e., direct recipients) of grants or cooperative agreements who make first tier subawards of $30,000 or more are required to register in the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act Subaward Reporting System (FSRS) and report subaward data through the FSRS. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 28 CITY OF ELKHART SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) There were two subawards that required submission in the FSRS during the audit period. The due date for the information was August 31, 2022, and November 30, 2022, respectively. The information was completed and submitted by the City; however, there was no documentation of the review or oversight process in place to ensure the accuracy of the information submitted. (See Report PDF for Schedule.) The lack of internal controls and noncompliance were systemic issues throughout the audit period. Criteria 2 CFR 200.303 states in part: "The non-Federal entity must: (a) 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 200.302(b) states in part: "The financial management system of each non-Federal entity must provide for the following: . . . (2) Accurate, current, and complete disclosure of the financial results of each Federal award or program in accordance with the reporting requirements set forth in ?? 200.328 and 200.329. . . ." Cause A proper system of internal controls was not designed by management of the City. Embedded within a properly designed and implemented internal control system should be internal controls consisting of policies and procedures. Policies reflect the City's management statements of what should be done to effect internal controls, and procedures should consist of actions that would implement these policies. Effect Without the proper implementation of an effectively designed system of internal controls, the internal control system cannot be capable of effectively preventing, or detecting and correcting, material noncompliance. As a result, required reports were not accurate nor submitted timely. Noncompliance with the provisions of federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award could result in the loss of future federal funding to the City. Questioned Costs There were no questioned costs identified. Recommendation We recommended that management of the City design and implement a proper system of internal control, including policies and procedures that would provide segregation of duties to ensure required reports are submitted timely and accurately. Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.