Finding 581361 (2023-002)

U.S. Department of Treasury Assistance Listing # 21.023, 2021 Award Year, Award Number: Not Provided COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA) U.S. Department of Treasury Assistance Listing #21.027, 2022 Award Year, Award Number: Not Provided COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CSLFRF) Reporting Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance and Non-Compliance Criteria: Quarterly and annual reports are required by Department of Treasury for ERA. Quarterly reports are required by the State of Iowa for CSLFRF. Condition: There was no documented control in place to review reports prior to submission for ERA and CSLFRF; and, for one quarterly ERA report tested, key line items were blank in the submitted report that was provided to be audited. Cause: For ERA, review of the submission was not documented and certain information that was previously submitted to Department of Treasury was not available to be tested because certain key line items were blank in the copy of the submitted report provided to the auditors. Despite multiple attempts in September and October 2023 by the Authority to obtain a copy of the submitted report from the Department of Treasury, a copy has not been made available to the Authority by Department of Treasury. For CSLFRF, review controls have not been implemented. Effect: Inaccurate information could have been reported or lines with required information could have been missed. Questioned Costs: None. Context/Sampling: For ERA, 3 of the 6 quarterly reports required for fiscal year 2023 were tested (2 quarters where ERA 1 was active during fiscal year 2023, and 4 quarters for ERA 2). For CSLFRF, 2 of the 4 required quarterly reports were tested. Repeat Finding from Prior Year(s): Yes Recommendation: We recommend a documented review process be implemented prior to report submission to ensure all lines are properly entered and agree to the applicable backup. We also recommend that a copy of the final submission is saved on the date of submission and review of that copy is completed to ensure that the information entered is available to review after submission is completed. Views of Responsible Officials: Management agrees with the finding.