Finding Text
Finding No.: 2023-003
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Federal Cluster: Housing Voucher Cluster
AL Numbers: 14.EHV, COVID-19 14.HCC, 14.871, 14.879
Area: Reporting
Questioned Costs: $0
Criteria:
In accordance with applicable reporting requirements, the Uniform Reporting Standards require PHAs to submit timely GAAP-based unaudited financial information electronically to HUD. Amounts reported in the Financial Assessment Subsystem, FASS-PH, should be accurate.
Condition:
Unaudited amounts reported in certain key line items in the FASS-PH for FY 2023 do not agree with underlying accounting records, as follows: See Schedule of Findings and Question Costs for chart/table.
Cause:
GHURA did not effectively implement monitoring controls over compliance with applicable reporting requirements. Also, relative to equity line items, GHURA is unable to input accurate unaudited FY 2023 financial information in the FASS-PH because audited FY 2020, FY 2021, and FY 2022 financial information in the FASS-PH are yet to be certified.
Effect:
GHURA is in noncompliance with applicable reporting requirements. No questioned cost is reported as we are unable to quantify the extent of noncompliance.
Identification as a Repeat Finding: 2022-004
Recommendation:
Responsible personnel should implement monitoring controls over compliance with applicable reporting requirements. Prior to reporting amounts in the FASS-PH, responsible personnel should examine and maintain underlying accounting records to determine the accuracy and completeness of reported data.
Also, as recommended by HUD, GHURA should contract its current independent public accountant (IPA) to certify the FY 2020 and FY 2021 financial information in the FASS-PH since the predecessor IPA is no longer available to certify the information they audited.
Views of Responsible Officials:
Responsible accounting personnel coordinated and prioritized with HUD-Honolulu to resolve the submission of its unaudited and audited Fiscal Year 2020 and 2021 financial information in the Financial Assessment Sub-System (FASS-PH) as required from HUD-Honolulu by June 06, 2024. The Authority submitted the unaudited FY 2020 to HUD on May 18, 2024 and is in review by HUD. The unaudited FY 2021 is completed and inputted in the FASS-PH. To submit the audited FY 2020 and 2021, the audited submissions must be certified by an IPA before it is submitted to HUD. To get pass this step, the Authority is required to procure an Independent Public Auditor to certify the audited submissions for FY 2020 and FY 2021. The request for proposal is still ongoing. The audited FY 2022 was rejected by the current IPA on May 23, 2024. The Authority will be working with the IPA to submit the audited FY 2022 to HUD so that the Authority can meet the reporting requirements. Fiscal Year 2023 unaudited submission is in review with HUD and the audited FY 2023 submission will be worked on with the current IPA. Submission of the audited FY 2023 is contingent on the IPA’s agreement with the Authority. A waiver to submit the audited FY 2023 was submitted to HUD to request a due date on 09/01/2024.