Finding Text
Finding 2024-001 (Considered a significant deficiency in control compliance for allowable costs and activities)
Federal Agency: United Stated Department of Health and Human Services
Assistance Listing Numbers: 93.558, 17.258, 17.259, 17.278
Criteria: The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), particularly 2 CFR § 200.430 (Compensation - Personal Services), requires that charges to federal awards for personnel costs must be based on accurate timekeeping records, and that those records should be properly mapped and reviewed to ensure costs are correctly allocated. Federal award recipients must have sufficient internal controls in place to ensure accurate billing to grants and proper review of payroll data, including verifying the proper mapping of timesheets to funding sources.
Condition: For 2 out of 25 transactions for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and 1 out of 25 transactions for Work Innovation and Opportunity Act Cluster, time reported by a sample of employees on their timesheets for work performed on the grant was not accurately mapped when imported into the payroll system. Specifically, the timesheets showed the amount of time employees spent working on the federal grant, but when this data was entered into the payroll system for processing, it was incorrectly allocated across other funding sources.
Cause: The misallocation of time was caused by a failure in the internal controls related to the mapping process between timesheets and the payroll system. Specifically, the integration process between the timesheet reporting system and the payroll system did not correctly map time worked on federal grants to the appropriate funding sources. This error was not identified by the Organization's internal review controls.
Effect: As a result of the mapping error, the Organization charged excess costs to the federal grant, leading to overbilling for labor costs.
Questioned Costs: Known - $173.
Recommendation: The Organization should review and adjust the mapping process between timesheet data and the payroll system to ensure that time worked on the federal grant is properly allocated. This may include updating software interfaces or implementing manual checks to ensure correct mapping.
Management's View: The Organization concurs with the facts of this finding and is implementing procedures to prevent this in the future.