Finding Text
Section III - Federal Award Findings and Questioned Costs
Finding 2023-002 Significant Deficiency
Assistance Listing: 84.351 C.A.R.E.
Condition:
Cleveland Play House does not have adequate documentation to support all charges to the federal
program.
Of the 40 payroll charges tested, 32 did not have adequate documentation. Of the 40 non-payroll
charges tested, supporting documentation for 2 charges was unable to be located.
In addition, management provided an Excel spreadsheet to support the charges that were made to the
program rather than reporting from their financial management system that is compliant with Section
200.302.
Criteria:
2 CFR 200.430(i) states that charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on
records that accurately reflect the work performed.
2 CFR 200.403(g) states that for costs to be allowed under Federal awards, they must be adequately
documented.
In addition, Section 200.302 requires that the financial management system must provide for an
identification, in its accounts, of all federal awards received and expended and the federal programs
under which they were received; an accurate, current and complete disclosure of the financial results
of each federal award or program; and a comparison of expenditures with budget amounts for each
federal award.
Cause:
Due to significant organizational turnover in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, individuals were not
completing timesheets to document level of effort for federal programs. Although management was
verbally communicating with these individuals during the year and tracking the time they spent on
the program within a spreadsheet, this is not considered adequate documentation. In addition, and
also a result of the turnover, certain documentation to support non-payroll expenditures was unable to
be located.
Effect:
Cleveland Play House did not have adequate documentation to support all costs charged to the federal
program. In addition, an ineffective financial management system could lead to incorrect
identification of costs charged to a federal program and an inability to substantiate that doublecharging
did not occur.
Repeat finding:
This is a repeat finding, refer to 2022-002.
Section III - Federal Award Findings and Questioned Costs (Continued)
Questioned costs:
Non-payroll: $267
Payroll: $49,059
Recommendation:
We recommend that Cleveland Play House develop a policy and procedure to ensure that all hours
submitted for federal reimbursement are supported with timesheets that are approved by a supervisor.
In addition, staff should be made aware of the policy and procedures to ensure retention of
documentation for non-payroll expenditures.
Views of responsible officials:
Management concurs with this recommendation. See also corrective action plan.