Finding Text
1) Federal program and specific federal award Identification:
Major Programs
• CFDA #19.510 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program
o Federal Agency: U.S. Department of State/Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
o Pass through Agency: U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
• CFDA #93.576 Refugee and Entrant Assistance - Discretionary Grants
o Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
o Pass through Agencies: Wisconsin Department of Children and Families and U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
Other Impacted Pass-Through Funding
• CFDA #93.566 Refugee and Entrant Assistance - Discretionary Grants
o Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
o Pass through Agency: U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
2) Criteria: Payroll should be allocated to grants and programs based on actual payroll costs incurred. Allocations should be updated as new grant funds are awarded. Payroll allocation plans should be reviewed for accuracy and safeguard in place to identify any errors.
3) Condition: The Organization created an allocation plan at the beginning of the year; however, as new funding was awarded the plan stayed the same. During the first quarter of the fiscal year, nine employees payroll was over allocated to grants and programs. During the second quarter allocations were updated but still resulted in seven employees’ payroll being allocated to grants and programs. This issue was resolved in the third quarter. However in two months of the fourth quarter three employees were over allocated. The Organization did not accurately update allocation of payroll throughout the year to verify employees were not over allocated. Also, after year end, it came to the Organization’s attention that formulas in their allocation worksheet were not correct. Therefore the calculations of payroll allocations to the various programs were not done correctly.
4) Cause: The Organization does not maintain sufficient payroll allocation support and, accordingly, the payroll allocation is not recorded based on actual costs incurred. The Organization also does not have a process in place to verify the accuracy of their payroll allocations in place, and, accordingly, the payroll allocation is not recorded accurately based on time worked for each grant.
5) Effect: Payroll allocations should be updated and reviewed throughout the year to include all grants and programs to properly account for the activities of the Organization and to properly report payroll costs on cost reports to funding sources.
6) Questioned costs:
• Salaries and Benefits $62,058
Major Programs
o U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
Reception & Placement: $47,259
Matching Grant $4,423
Other Impacted Pass-Through Funding
o WI Department of Children and Families
Refugee Support Services $7,834
Refugee Health Administration $2,429
Refugee Health Promotion $113
Salaries were computed by calculating FTE allocations over one for each individual employee and multiplying by their respective salary costs for the year. Payroll taxes were over-allocated salary costs multiplied by 7.65%. Employee Benefits were salary costs multiplied by 32%, which was the salaries to benefits ratio the Organization used for the year.
7) Prevalence or consequence: All quarters were impacted by allocation plan issues.
8) Recommendation to prevent future occurrences. We recommend that the Organization develop a time and/or activity reporting methodology to adequately document the payroll charges by grant and program. We also recommend that all cost allocations be reviewed and approved by the executive director. We also recommend that the Organization develop a review process and checks and balances system to adequately test that payroll charges are coded to the correct grants and programs. We also recommend that all calculations be reviewed and approved by the executive director.
9) Views of responsible officials at auditee. See attachment for Organization’s corrective action plan.