Finding Text
FINDING 2024-001
Subject: Child Nutrition Cluster - Reporting
Federal Agency: Department of Agriculture
Federal Programs: School Breakfast Program, National School Lunch Program,
Summer Food Service Program for Children
Assistance Listings Numbers: 10.553, 10.555, 10.559
Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): FY2023, FY2024, FY23/FY24
Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education
Compliance Requirement: Reporting
Audit Finding: Material Weakness
INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS
15
SOUTH VERMILLION COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION
SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS
(Continued)
Condition and Context
There were no internal controls in place to ensure that the School Corporation complied with the
reporting requirements. The reimbursement request reports were prepared and submitted by the Food
Service Director without any oversight, review, or approval process to ensure accuracy of the reports. There
was no oversight to verify that the number of meals served matched the report filed.
The lack of internal controls was systemic 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 200.301 states in part:
"(a) The Federal awarding agency must measure the recipient's performance to show achievement
of program goals and objectives, share lessons learned, improve program outcomes, and
foster adoption of promising practices. Program goals and objectives should be derived from
program planning and design. See § 200.202 for more information. Where appropriate, the
Federal award may include specific program goals, indicators, targets, baseline data, data
collection, or expected outcomes (such as outputs, or services performance or public impacts
of any of these) with an expected timeline for accomplishment. Where applicable, this should
also include any performance measures or independent sources of data that may be used to
measure progress. The Federal awarding agency will determine how performance progress is
measured, which may differ by program. Performance measurement progress must be both
measured and reported. See § 200.329 for more information on monitoring program
performance. The Federal awarding agency may include program-specific requirements, as
applicable. These requirements must be aligned, to the extent permitted by law, with the
Federal awarding agency strategic goals, strategic objectives or performance goals that are
relevant to the program. See also OMB Circular A-11, Preparation, Submission, and Execution
of the Budget Part 6.
(b) The Federal awarding agency should provide recipients with clear performance goals,
indicators, targets, and baseline data as described in § 200.211. Performance reporting
frequency and content should be established to not only allow the Federal awarding agency to
understand the recipient progress but also to facilitate identification of promising practices
among recipients and build the evidence upon which the Federal awarding agency's program
and performance decisions are made. See § 200.328 for more information on reporting
program performance. . . ."
INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS
16
SOUTH VERMILLION COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION
SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS
(Continued)
Cause
Management had not developed or implemented a system of internal controls that would have
ensured that the monthly reimbursement request filed matched the meals served per the cafeteria software.
Effect
The failure to establish an effective internal control system could have resulted in the reimbursement
request being filed for the wrong number of meals served. Noncompliance with the grant agreement
and the Reporting compliance requirement could result in the loss of future federal funds to the School
Corporation.
Questioned Costs
There were no questioned costs identified.
Recommendation
We recommended that the School Corporation's management strengthen its system of internal
controls to ensure that the reporting of meals served is verified for accuracy.
Views of Responsible Officials
For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.