Finding 587822 (2023-001)

2023-001 State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds – Compliance & Internal Control Criteria: In accordance with 2CFR 200.430(i), payroll systems must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed and supported by a system of internal controls that provides reasonable assurances that charges support the distribution of the employee’s salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award. Budget estimates alone to do not qualify as support for charges to Federal awards. Condition: The Trust allocates employee payroll to Federal awards using a budgeted allocation percentage that may not be reflective of the actual time worked by the employee on Federal and non-Federal activities. Budgeted estimates are not adjusted to actual time worked on Federal programs during the year. Cause: The Trust currently does not have a system to track the number of hours personnel work on various Federal or non-Federal programs. Effect: Payroll expenditures may not be reflective of actual time worked on Federal grants. Federal expenditures may be overstated or understated. Known Questioned Costs: unknown Likely Questioned Costs: unknown Recommendations: We recommend the Trust implement a time tracking system that requires employees to provide detail on the number of hours worked on Federal and non-Federal programs on their timesheets. The time tracking data should be utilized to charge payroll to Federal awards.