Finding Text
Condition: Violence Free Minnesota allocated payroll costs based on Payroll Activity Reports (PAR) for the current month. One instance was found in which payroll costs were based on an allocation from a prior month PAR. This occurred for one individual in the month. Criteria: The Uniform Guidance requires that payroll allocated to grants is based on PAR. Context: Finding affects major program transactions of which the PAR was utilized. The contracted accountant has been improving the payroll allocation process to be simpler and more consistent. The process may still be prone to error based on the manual nature of the control design. Cause: Staff did not update allocation based upon current month PAR. One PAR was missed when updating current month values. The discrepancy was not detected or prevented by the implemented internal controls. Effect: Potential over-allocation of payroll costs to the grant. Recommendation: We recommend that the personnel allocation reports and summary of payroll allocation of costs be reviewed by someone other than the preparer when allocating costs to grants. Views of Responsible Officials: Violence Free Minnesota understands the complexity of the payroll allocations, and in the Fall of 2022 began transitioning to a Coalition Manager software to help staff allocate their time across the appropriate grants. Coalition Manager software was fully implemented in February of 2023 for all staff. Accounting staff have already implemented a review process of all payroll cost allocations.