Finding Text
2023-001– Child and Adult Care Food Program – 10.558 – Eligibility and Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles
Criteria or specific requirement
Internal controls should be in place to ensure that complete and accurate meal counts for eligible providers and children be submitted to the State for reimbursement.
Condition
Four providers received an improper amount for their meal reimbursement for the month tested.
Context
We determined, through testing of provider meal reimbursements, that an inaccurate number of meals was submitted to the State for reimbursement for four providers in our sample.
Effect
Two providers were incorrectly reimbursed based off of incorrectly counted or recapped meals. One provider had a child incorrectly marked as Tier II within the system, when that child should have been reimbursed at Tier I levels. The final provider had parent surveys sent out for the month tested, and five snacks were claimed by the provider when a parent said that their child wasn’t in attendance. When the Director of the Child and Adult Care Food Program attempted to manually adjust the snack count for
those five meals, the incorrect drop-down button was selected, which increased the count by five instead of decreasing it. These items totaled to a net under-reimbursement of the providers of $42. Total estimated errors come to an under-reimbursement of $1,084.
Cause
Inaccurate meal counts were submitted to the state as a result of incorrectly recapped meal counts, an incorrect Tier being selected within the system for a child, and an incorrect drop down button being selected when making manual adjustments.
Recommendation
Controls should be reviewed and updated to ensure that complete and accurate meal counts are submitted to the State for reimbursement.
Views of responsible officials and planned corrective actions
See corrective action plan.