Finding 627099 (2022-001)

2022-001 ? Reporting ? Significant Deficiency and Noncompliance ALN 21.023 ? COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance U.S. Department of Treasury Criteria: The U.S. Department of Treasury established reporting requirements for local governments. These requirements established methods for reporting Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) expenditures to the U.S. Department of Treasury. Condition: The County incorrectly underreported the number of households that received ERA assistance and amounts paid on the monthly expenditure reports and overreported subrecipient expenditures on the quarterly project reports. Context: During our review of the monthly and quarterly compliance reports, we noted the following errors: ? The monthly compliance report for February 2022 reported 106 households served versus the 119 that were actually served. ? The monthly compliance report for February 2022 reported $447,839 expended to subrecipients versus $2,955,802 that was actually expended to subrecipients. ? The ERA 1 quarterly compliance report for Q3 2022 reported $2,680,575 expended versus $5,042,575 that was actually expended. ? The ERA 2 quarterly compliance report for Q3 2022 reported $20,012,525 expended versus $8,473,805 that was actually expended. Effect: The County was not in compliance with reporting requirements in 2022. Cause: Lack of sufficient internal controls over the reporting requirements of the ERA program. Recommendation: We recommend the County enhance its internal controls over the reporting requirements of the ERA program by reviewing the U.S. Department of Treasury?s federal guidance for reporting.