Finding Text
Assistance Listing, Federal Agency, and Program Name - 15.916, U.S. Department of the Interior, Outdoor Recreation, Acquisition, Development and Planning
Federal Award Identification Number and Year - FAIN not available, 2024
Pass through Entity - Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Land and Water Conservation Fund
Finding Type - Material weakness
Repeat Finding - No
Criteria - Per 2 CFR 200.303(a), nonfederal entities must establish and maintain effective internal control over the federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the nonfederal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government issued by the comptroller general of the United States or the Internal Control Integrated Framework, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
Condition - The City did not have controls in place surrounding the review of requests for reimbursement to ensure the underlying invoices were allowable and that the local matching contribution was calculated correctly.
Questioned Costs - None
If questioned costs are not determinable, description of why known questioned costs were undetermined or otherwise could not be reported - Not applicable
Identification of How Questioned Costs Were Computed - Not applicable
Context - The same individual at the City prepared and submitted the requests for reimbursement without a second person reviewing the request. The City submitted two requests for reimbursement during the year under audit with grant reimbursement amounts totalling $550,495. The City submitted a third request for reimbursement subsequent to the year under audit that included 2024 expenditures of federal awards in the amount of $653,591.
Cause and Effect - The City did not have a policy in place to ensure an individual in the finance department reviewed the requests for reimbursement prepared by department staff; however, no unallowable costs, incorrect matching calculations, or inappropriate reimbursement requests were noted as a result of our audit procedures.
Recommendation - We recommend the City implement a process to ensure all requests for reimbursement are reviewed prior to submission.
Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions - The City agrees with this finding. The grant accountant is revising our grant regulations and requirements to improve our internal controls and processes. Part of this update will include a requirement that all RFRs prepared by departments are forwarded to the Finance department for review and approval prior to submission. See the corrective action plan.