Finding Text
Federal Agency: US Department of Homeland Security Federal Program Name: FEMA Public Assistance Grant Program Assistance Listing Number: 97.036 Award Period: Year ended December 31, 2022 Type of Finding: ? Significant Deficiency in Internal Controls over Compliance ? Other Matters Criteria: The Foundation?s internal controls related to the FEMA Public Assistance Grant Program state that authorization form are required to be obtained by the appropriate level of management for all capital purchases. Condition: The compliance requirements state that FEMA evaluates the eligibility of all costs claimed by the applicant. Not all costs incurred as a result of the incident are eligible. Costs must be authorized and not prohibited under federal, state, territorial, tribal, or local government laws or regulations as well as consistent with applicant?s internal policies, regulations, and procedures that apply uniformly to both federal awards and other activities of the applicant. Questioned Costs: $-0- Context: It was noted that as a part of Aultman Health Foundation's internal controls related to FEMA funding, as well as other capital projects, that one signed authorization form was required to be obtained by the appropriate level of management to approve capital purchases. Per discussions with client, they were unable to locate the signed authorization form for a set of disbursements totaling $44,631 associated with one of the FEMA projects. Per further discussion with client, the signed authorization form was obtained and retained by an employee who is no longer employed with the Foundation and therefore, access to this signed copy was no longer available. Effect: There is potential that capital purchases could be made without authorization from the proper level of management. Recommendation: We recommend that for all capital purchases, especially for projects that utilize federal funding, formal authorization is obtained from the appropriate level of management. Additionally, it is recommended that the signed authorization forms be retained in a location that is easily accessible when requested.Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: Aultman Health Foundation created a central shared location for all signed capital authorization forms to be kept electronically for reference.