Finding 959276 (2022-005)

Material Weakness
Requirement
B
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2022
Accepted
2024-03-21
Audit: 296444
Auditor: Armanino

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: ABS Institute failed to allocate non-payroll costs uniformly across programs, violating cost allocation guidelines.
  • Impacted Requirements: This issue highlights a lack of a formal review process, leading to potential unallowable costs being charged to grants.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Implement a formal review policy to ensure compliance with cost allocation memorandums and prevent recurrence of this issue.

Finding Text

Finding number: 2022-005: Allowable Costs/Cost Principles, Research & Development Cluster Criteria: Per Part 3 of the Compliance Supplement, for costs that are being allocated, costs must be allocated uniformly across all programs. Condition: ABS Institute utilizes cost allocation memorandums to allocate costs to the grant. Several months of non-payroll costs were not allocated to programs in line with ABS Institute's cost allocation memorandums. Cause: ABS Institute does not have a formal review process in place to ensure all allocations are appropriately applied. Effect or potential effect: Possibility of unallowable costs allocated to grants. Identification as a repeat finding: This is a repeat finding from the immediate previous audit, 2021-005. Recommendation: We recommend that ABS Institute implement a formal review policy to ensure that non-payroll costs are allocated in line with cost allocation memorandums. Views of responsible official: ABS Institute has made the following changes in response to this finding: On a monthly basis, the allocations are provided to ABS Institute from our 3rd party bookkeeper. The allocation process does not change from month-to-month. On an adhoc basis, a review of the monthly allocations was completed in 2023.

Categories

Allowable Costs / Cost Principles

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 382832 2022-003
    Material Weakness
  • 382833 2022-004
    Material Weakness
  • 382834 2022-005
    Material Weakness
  • 959274 2022-003
    Material Weakness
  • 959275 2022-004
    Material Weakness

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
93.859 Biomedical Research and Research Training $135,670
93.865 Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research $74,703
93.855 Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation Research $31,837