Finding Text
Federal Program: Research and Development Cluster
Grantor Agency: Department of Defense
Program Title: Randomized Trial for Pazopanib in HHT-Related Bleeding
Federal Award Year: July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023
Type of finding:
• Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance
• Compliance, Other Matter
Criteria: 2 CFR 200.303 requires that organizations establish and maintain effective internal controls in place over Federal awards that provide reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the award in compliance with Federal statues, regulations, and the terms of and conditions of the Federal award. Additionally, 2 CFR 200.305(b)(1) requires an organization
receiving advances on federal funds must maintain or demonstrate the willingness to maintain both written procedures that minimize the time elapsing between the transfer of funds and disbursement by the non-Federal entity, and financial management systems that meet the standards for fund control and accountability as established in this part, and the timing and amount of advance payments must be as close as is administratively feasible to the actual disbursements by the non-Federal entity for direct program or project costs and the proportionate share of any allowable indirect costs.
Condition: One reimbursement request submitted to the cognizant agency included expenditures for which the organization had already been reimbursed and, per review of the organization’s SF-425 submissions and accounting records, we noted that Federal funds advanced to the organization were not disbursed in a timely manner.
Context: During our review of the organization’s Federal grant revenue reconciliation, an amount classified as an advance on Federal funds was determined to include amounts for which the organization had already requested reimbursement and been paid. Additionally, through review of grant reports, accounting records and inquiries with management, we discovered that the funds the organization had received in advance had not been used for project costs in a timely manner, consistent with 2 CFR 200.305.
Cause: During the preparation of the fiscal year-end drawdown request, the data used to determine the amount the organization needed to draw down was not reviewed or reconciled against amounts previously requested and, thus, the drawdown included duplicate and/or incorrect requests for grant funds.
Effect or possible effect of condition: Proper internal controls were not in place to mitigate the excess drawdown due to incorrect underlying information and procedures were not in place to minimize the time elapsing between receipt and disbursement of Federal funds.
Questioned Costs: None.
Repeat Finding: No.
Recommendation: We recommend that management strengthen its internal controls over cash
management to ensure that amounts submitted for reimbursement are properly reconciled against internal data used to request funding to date. Additionally, we recommend that management develop written procedures to minimize the time elapsed between receipt of Federal funds and the disbursement thereof.
Views of responsible officials: This error occurred during a time of transition from one outsourced accounting firm and accounting system to another. The new outsourced accounting systems were not fully in place or automated at the time of the reporting error and there was no internal review process. The outsourced accounting firm is now fully transitioned, all systems are fully integrated with the accounting software, and the accounting team provides the program managers and organization managers with the reports needed to prepare drawdown requests.
Cure HHT has developed and fully implemented a corrective action plan. The organization has
communicated with the cognizant agency and all expenses eligible for submission for payment
through grant funding will be submitted to and paid from the overdrawn funds. Once these funds are depleted, the organization will resume monthly draw submissions for all eligible expenses. The organization will reconcile all eligible expenses prior to requesting grant funds to avoid future duplicate and/or incorrect requests for grant funds. In addition, pending proper internal approvals of all submitted expenses, grant funds received will be dispersed within 3-7 business days from the date received.