Finding Text
Criteria
Documentation to support all disbursements should be maintained for a reasonable period of time, in accordance with an approved document retention policy in order to ensure proper financial reporting, internal control over financial reporting and to conform with rules and regulations included in the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance).
Condition
As part of the administration of its federal grant award, the Foundation established a web-based portal whereby recipients of the grant could submit supporting documentation to the Foundation to support the funds they were requesting be distributed under the requirements of the grant. Upon the conclusion of the Foundation’s grant award and with the permission of the Foundation’s oversight agency, the web-based portal was shut down. However, the data included within the portal – primarily the descriptions, amounts, dates, and categories were preserved from the portal as part of the Foundation’s monthly reviews. Invoices used to support the amounts distributed to recipients, was not maintained.
Cause
The data on the web-based portal was not backed up and stored in a manner consistent with best practices for document retention.
Effect
The Foundation no longer has access to the detailed supporting documentation, including individual invoices to support the amounts distributed to recipients. The Foundation does continue to retain summary level information of the amounts distributed and approvals of those distributions.
Recommendation
We recommend the Foundation evaluate its document retention practices and its use of information technology as part of document retention to ensure future data losses do not occur.