Finding Text
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Child Nutrition Cluster #'s: 10.185, 10.553, 10.555, 10.559, 10.582, & 10.649
Noncompliance with Federal Award: A total of 9 out of 37 transactions tested did not include purchase orders with management approval. 1 of the 9 also did not include invoices substantiating the expenditure in the amount of $4,530. It is unclear if the expenditure was allowable.
Criteria: Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller of the United States require us to assess compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements. The compliance supplement for the Child Nutrition Cluster requires allowable costs be properly supported.
Condition: The District processed multiple expenditures which did not include documentation of management approval, or supporting documentation.
Cause: This condition is caused by the District's limited segregation of duties and turnover of key employees including the Deputy Clerk.
Effect: Weak internal controls over compliance, including the lack of management approvals, lead to greater risk of material noncompliance occurring within a federal program that would not be detected and corrected in a timely manner.
Questioned Costs: None noted as a result of our audit procedures.
Context: Although the finding results in a material weakness in internal control over compliance and non-compliance within a federal program, the reader should be made aware that 8 of the 9 transactions that did not have supporting documentation were all on one batch purchase in April.
Recommendation: We recommend the District improve internal controls by incorporating the involvement of a grant manager who is knowledgeable of grant requirements to approve expenditures.
View of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: The District agrees with the finding and the recommended procedures will be implemented.