Finding 980063 (2023-001)

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Requirement
L
Questioned Costs
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Year
2023
Accepted
2024-06-28

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: ASP received advance funds from the City of Johnson City, violating the grant agreement due to delayed invoice payments.
  • Impacted Requirements: The grant stipulates that the City cannot provide advance funding to sub-recipients, which ASP failed to adhere to.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: ASP should ensure all invoices are paid before requesting reimbursements and improve controls to reconcile purchasing and financial records promptly.

Finding Text

Community Development Block Grant – AL# 14.218, Controls over Reporting Condition: ASP included an amount for reimbursement to the City of Johnson City, TN that had not been paid and was not paid promptly, resulting in ASP receiving funds in advance from the City, which is in violation of the grant agreement ASP has with the City. Criteria: The grant agreement with the City states that in no event shall the City provide advance funding to their sub-recipient. Cause: ASP failed to pay an invoice that was submitted for reimbursement prior to the receipt of the reimbursement from the City. ASP’s controls over the process of reconciling reimbursement requests and payables from their general ledger to the request were not sufficient to prevent this issue from occurring, resulting in the error. Effect: ASP violated their agreement with the City and received funds in advance. Context: An invoice recorded in their purchasing tracking software was not subsequently recorded in their financial software allowing for request for reimbursement to happen for an invoice that was not promptly paid. Controls were not sufficient to prevent this from occurring. Questioned Costs: N/A Recommendation: ASP should pay all invoices submitted for reimbursement prior to receipt of the reimbursement from the City in order to stay in compliance with their agreement with the City. ASP should also reconcile between the purchase tracking software and the general ledger to ensure that all purchases are promptly recorded in accounts payable to be paid promptly. ASP should ensure that controls are implemented to help prevent reoccurrence of this issue in the future. Repeat Finding: No. Management’s Response: ASP has policies and procedures in place to ensure all reimbursable expenditures are allowable, paid and clear the bank before submitting for reimbursement. However, on one occasion, ASP inadvertently submitted an allowable and paid expenditure of $32.78 that had not cleared the bank. ASP has since repaid this amount and the replacement check has been cashed by the vendor. In the future, ASP will ensure that all expenditures are allowable, paid, and clear the bank before submitting the reimbursement.

Categories

Procurement, Suspension & Debarment Subrecipient Monitoring Cash Management Reporting

Other Findings in this Audit

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
14.218 Community Development Block Grants/entitlement Grants $323,394
10.433 Rural Housing Preservation Grants $294,831
23.002 Appalachian Area Development $243,357
14.239 Home Investment Partnerships Program $190,292
14.251 Economic Development Initiative, Community Project Funding and Misc. Grants $106,773
14.921 Older Adults Home Modification Grant Program $7,754