Finding 525859 (2024-003)

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Requirement
C
Questioned Costs
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Year
2024
Accepted
2025-03-06

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The agency drew excess federal funds totaling $354,061 across four programs due to inadequate monitoring.
  • Impacted Requirements: Non-compliance with 2 CFR Section 200.305, which mandates minimizing the time between fund transfer and disbursement for allowable costs.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Implement tracking procedures to manage funds drawn from the U.S. Treasury and ensure cash on hand aligns with grant requirements within 30 days.

Finding Text

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Administration for Children and Families, Refugee and Entrant Assistance - Discretionary Grants - Refugee Educational and Savings Success Program - Assistance Listing No. 93.576; award numbers 90RG0208, 90Re0305, 90ZN0005, and 90RE0336; award year ending September 30, 2024. Condition: Excess federal funds drawn. Criteria: 2 CFR Section 200.305 requires non-federal entities to minimize the time elapsing between the transfer of funds from the U.S. Treasury and the disbursement of the funds for allowable program costs. Cause: The agency failed to monitor their federal funds drawn. Effect: The agency's audit shows that the agency had excess federal funds among four directly funded federal programs totaling $354,061 at June 30, 2024. Context: A comparison of total funds drawn by grant to total allowable costs by grant disclosed that there was an excess of funds at the end of the audit period as follows: Grant Number 90RG0208 Excess Funds $35,973 Grant Number 90RE0305 Excess Funds $32,741 Grant Number 90ZN0005 Excess Funds $196,886 Grant Number 90RE0336 Excess Funds $88,461 Total $354,061. Recommendation: The agency should establish procedures to track funds drawn fron the U.S. Treasury and limit cash on hand to what is required by the grant within 30 days. View of Responsible Officials: Reason for excess funds - we withdrew funds from the payment management service uniformly on a quarterly basis for each program. This approach has resulted in accumulating the above-mentioned funds at the end of the period.

Corrective Action Plan

1 We have decided not to withdraw funds from the payment management service until the available funds are used, and moving forward, we will be keen on withdrawing funds using the cost-reimbursement method. 2 We have developed federal funds withdrawal and spending monitoring spreadsheets. We will use this tool to control the balance of funds to make sure that optimum amount of money is maintained.

Categories

Allowable Costs / Cost Principles Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking

Other Findings in this Audit

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
19.510 U.s. Refugee Admissions Program $2.21M
93.576 Refugee and Entrant Assistance Discretionary Grants $884,970
93.567 Refugee and Entrant Assistance Voluntary Agency Programs $695,715
14.218 Community Development Block Grants/entitlement Grants $159,092
93.566 Refugee and Entrant Assistance State/replacement Designee Administered Programs $93,897
10.561 State Administrative Matching Grants for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program $43,806