Finding Text
2024-003 – U.S. Department of Agriculture, For the Period July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024, Assistance Listing #10.553-10.582 – Internal Control and Compliance over Child Nutrition Cluster
Criteria: The School Nutrition cluster requires the School Unit to file monthly claim forms (reports) with the State within a certain period of time and to accurately reflect the meals served for the program. In addition, the School Unit Is required to establish internal controls and procedures to ensure compliance with requirements.
Condition: The School Unit does not have an established control system implemented covering the reporting process for monthly claim forms. As a result, we identified the September 2023 claim incorrectly reported 6 additional meals served at Mountain Valley High School then were not actually served.
Cause: A clerical error was not identified prior to submission of the September claim form, due to lack of a secondary review.
Effect: Errors in claim forms may not be caught prior to submission.
Recommendation: We recommend the School Unit implement controls to ensure monthly claim forms are reviewed by a second individual prior to submission to minimize the risk of errors or fraudulent reporting.
Questioned Costs: None