Federal Agency Name: Department of Labor
Assistance Listing Number: 17.270
Program Name: Reentry Employment Opportunities
Finding Summary: There were two months identified in which the draw request amount for the Reentry Employment Opportunities Program was inadvertently switched with a draw request for a different federal program. The expenditures for the Reentry Employment Opportunities program were incurred prior to the draw down request being completed.
Corrective Action Plan: SHIP’s Finance Director drew down funds for two months of expenditures on the same day for both the Department of Labor‐funded BOOST GO program and the Department of Justice‐funded BOOST Re‐ Entry program. This resulted in mistakenly swapping the drawdowns for the programs, therefore drawing down GO’s funds for Re‐Entry and Re‐Entry’s funds for GO. The payments were recorded correctly by Accounting staff. The mistake was caught while the Finance Director was preparing for the annual audit.
Once the mistake was discovered, the Executive Director and the Finance Director immediately contacted the Federal Project Officers of both grants to report the error and request information on how to proceed with correcting it. The Federal Project officers were supportive of being informed of the errors, and in providing feedback on how to correct the mistakes, which SHIP did immediately. Next, the Finance Director reported the error to the auditors, and the errors were also reported to the SHIP Executive Committee of the Board of Directors.
Moving forward in the short term, the Finance Director has started to double check the account number on the report and the account number on the draw down platform to ensure that it is the correct grant. The reports are prepared monthly and the accountant that will prepare the monthly report will also add the account identifier to the front of the packet. This will be double checked by the Finance Director. Deposits will have to be verified as well to ensure we record the payor correctly. The Finance Director will also reconcile that the payments recorded on the grant platform and SHIP’s financial system to ensure they both agree.
Long term, SHIP will be more intentional about the naming and branding of programs. Currently, SHIP is applying for a new grant from the Department of Labor to continue the BOOST Re‐Entry program. If awarded, this program will be dropping the “BOOST” acronym from the name to avoid confusion with the established BOOST GO program. Having two separate programs sharing a name was intended to build on the branding and community awareness of the BOOST program but has had the unintentional consequence of creating confusion for the public, partner agencies, and participants. As the above finding also demonstrates, it can cause unfortunate errors administratively as well.
See also 2024‐007 Finding for each program
Responsible Individual: Mindy Baylor, Director of Finance
Anticipated Completion Date: November 2024