Finding Text
2023-106 Missing Documentation to Support Payroll Authorizations (Initially reported 2023)
Assistance Listing Number: 93.224 and 93.527
Name of Federal Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, HRSA
Program Title: Health Center Program (Community Health Centers, Migrant Health Centers, Health Care for the Homeless, and Public Housing Primary Care) and Grants for New and Expanded Services Under the Health Center Program
Compliance Requirement: Allowable Activities and Costs
Pass-through Entity: N/A
Federal Grant/Contract Number and Grant Year: H8006452 (2022 and 2023), H2E45500 (2022), COVID-19 ARP H8F40324 (2021), H2E50094 (2023) and COVID-19 H8G48569 (2022)
Finding Type: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control
Questioned Costs: $0
Condition: The Organization could not provide one salary authorization form for sample selection of 40 employees.
Criteria: 2 CFR section 200.303 requires that nonfederal entities receiving federal awards establish and maintain internal control over the federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the nonfederal entity is managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal awards Under compliance requirements for allowable activities and costs, management should ensure that costs can be supported by underlying accounting documentation.
Cause: Filing errors resulting in staff being unable to provide the requested authorizations.
Effect: The Organization would not be able to provide the related documentation to support allowable activities and costs under the program which could lead to loss in grant funding.
Recommendation: We recommend that the Organization should put in a process to appropriately retain documentation to support allowable activities and costs under applicable grant programs.
Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: The Organization has implemented a process to ensure that all salary authorizations are properly obtained and stored. When there is any change in an employee's status or salary, an Employee Status Form is completed and signed by the employee, their supervisor, and Human Resources, and when required, by the COO and CEO. Additionally, the salary authorization form is added to a secure shared file drive. The shared file drive includes a section where all salary changes are listed. Both HR and Finance initial off to confirm that each salary change is supported by the proper documentation during the payroll review process.