Material
Weakness
Finding: The SEFA should include all expenditures of federal awards.
Questioned Costs None
Status Sustained
Corrective Action • Written approval by the Board of Directors is required to
apply for Federal grants.
• Once a Federal grant award application has been made,
the Board of Directors must accept the grant and
appropriate funds before the grant funds are expended.
Copies of the approved requests will be submitted to the
Finance department. Once the Federal grant award has
been approved by the Granting agency and accepted by
the Board of Directors. For new grants, the Finance
Department will meet with the CEO and Program Director
to set up account codes in the financial system in order to
track all revenues and expenditures for the specific grant,
and the administering department will be notified of the
new account numbers.
• The CEO, CFO, and program director will establish the
grant budget according to approved documentation.
• The Finance Department monitors the expenditures and
revenues monthly with review by the Program Director to
ensure all items are recorded properly and that they meet
the grantor's guidelines.
• The department's annual inventories of federal grants are
reviewed to ensure that all approved grants are included
in the accounting system. If all approved grants are not
included, staff from the finance department will contact
the department for a corrected inventory. In addition, the
Finance department reviews all Board minutes and agenda
notes and identifies new federal grants as they become
accepted.
• Year End reporting is prepared by running reports out of
the accounting software system and is reviewed in
detail for accuracy with the CEO, CFO, and Program
Director.
• CFDA numbers for all Federal grants will be gathered and
kept with the grant information. At the end of the fiscal
year, a report will be generated, itemizing all of the
approved Federal grants that went before the Board for
that fiscal year. All approved awards will be reconciled to
the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards.
• All grants will be maintained in accordance with any
Federal, State, and Local guidelines/laws applicable to
the agreement.
• All documentation will be maintained by the finance
department for auditing purposes.
• The Finance department is responsible for preparing the
year-end Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards
and providing oversight on the above related policies and
procedures.
• The YWCA will continue to provide training in the field of
grant management to appropriate staff which will address
specific policies and procedures for administering the
YWCA's use and management of government grant
resources and expenditures. The training stresses the
importance of including all Federal grants on their annual
inventories or SEFA.
Year-End Report/Audit:
1. Prepare a closing schedule. The first step in the closing
process is to plan and develop a schedule of events.
There are various due dates that must be met such as
report deadlines, data processing deadlines at the
organization.
2. A calendar combining all of the important events
should be established and followed throughout the
closing process.
3. Review all asset accounts. Various asset accounts must
be reviewed at year-end. A reconciliation of all cash
accounts must be prepared and any adjusting entries
must be recorded. The inventory account must be
adjusted to agree with the physical count. Prepaid
expenditures must be reviewed and analyzed to ensure
that no adjustments are needed.
4. Analyze and close out prior year receivable and payable
accounts. At year-end, the agency must close out any
amounts remaining in the prior year receivable or payable
accounts. During the year, differences will occur between
amounts actually received or paid versus what had been
accrued. These adjustments should be made throughout
the year as they occur, but a final analysis must be made
if a balance remains on these accounts.
5. Accrue accounts receivable. Various sources of revenues
are due to the agency at year-end. These amounts must
be recorded as accounts receivable. This will record the
revenue in the proper fiscal year. There are specific
revenue recognition policies referring to such items as
revenue limit, interest, deficits, etc. that provide guidance
on how to calculate these receivables.
6. Accrue accounts payable. Any amounts due to others at
year- end for receipt of goods or services must be
recorded as accounts payable. This will record the
expenditure in the proper fiscal year. There are common
types of payables such as payroll, employee benefits,
utilities, contracts, and so forth.
7. Adjust grants and entitlements: Specific recognition
policies must be followed in accounting for grants and
entitlements. Each project must be reviewed separately,
and appropriate entries must be completed.
8. Ensure accurate accounting for leases, must be
recorded before or during the year-end closing
process.
9. Ensure that all inter-program and inter-fund
transactions are reconciled. Any transfers of
expenditures between programs or funds must be
reconciled.
10. Review unique closing procedures for other funds and
account groups. Unique items must be considered at
year-end regarding funds other than the general fund.
11. Properly identify the components of the ending fund
balance. Year-end entries are necessary to classify the
components of the ending fund balance correctly.
Amounts may be reserved, legally restricted,
designated, or undesignated.
12. Are the books ready for the annual audit? The goal
of year-end closing is to ensure that the Organization
financial statements are accurate and ready for
audit.