Finding 960989 (2023-002)

1. FINDING NUMBER: 2023 - 002 2. THIS FINDING IS: New. 3. Federal Program Name and Year: National School Breakfast Program, National School Lunch Program - PY 2022 and 2023 4. Project No.: 22-4210-00, 23-4210-00, 22-4220-00, 23-4220-00 5. AL No.: 10.553, 10.555 6. Passed Through: Illinois State Board of Education 7. Federal Agency: Department of Agriculture 8. Criteria or specific requirement (including statutory, regulatory, or other citation) As noted in 2 CFR 200.303, the District should establish and maintain effective internal control over Federal awards that provide reasonable assurance that the District is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. The submissions of monthly claims for reimbursement should be reviewed and approved by someone other than the preparer of the claim to ensure the claim is properly prepared and agrees to supporting documentation. The audit finding is based on the requirement that meal claim reports for the National School Breakfast and National School Lunch Program must undergo thorough review by an independent party outside of the preparer. 9. Condition: The Director of Food Services prepares and submits monthly reimbursement claims to ISBE. These submissions are not reviewed or approved by anyone else. No documented evidence exists of an independent reviewer examining meal claim reports beyond the preparer. 10. Questioned Costs: No questioned costs identified. 11. Context: The internal control deficiency is systemic in the District's process for submitting reimbursement claims. The sample was not statistically valid. 12. Effect: Inaccurate monthly claims reimbursements could be submitted for reimbursement which could lead to potential questioned costs under the award. Without external review, errors or inaccuracies in meal claim reports may go undetected and misreported claims could lead to overpayment or underpayment of federal funds. 13. Cause: The District has not designed and implemented an internal control process to ensure that monthly reimbursement claims submissions are reviewed and approved by someone outside the preparer. 14. Recommendation: Establish a formal process for external review of meal claim reports and ISBE reimbursement submissions by someone other than the preparer. 15. Management's response: See corrective action plan.