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FINDING 2022-003Subject: Child Nutrition Cluster - Allowable Costs/Cost PrinciplesFederal Agency: Department of AgricultureFederal Programs: School Breakfast Program, COVID-19 - School Breakfast Program, NationalSchool Lunch Program, COVID-19 - National School Lunch ProgramAssistance Listings Numbers: 10.553, 10.555Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): FY2021, FY2022Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of EducationCompliance Requirement: Allowable Costs/Cost PrinciplesAudit Findings: Material Weakness, Other MattersCondition and ContextAn effective internal control system was not in place at the School Corporation to ensure compliancewith requirements related to the grant agreement and the Allowable Costs/Cost Principles compliancerequirement.The School Corporation had not developed nor implemented internal controls over transactionspaid from the Child Nutrition Cluster funds to ensure that the payment was an allowable cost for the benefitof the food service program.Additionally, the School Corporation paid food service employees that worked more than 5.25 hoursa day on a biweekly basis with payments that continued into the summer. In order to do this, an employee'spay was annualized based on the expected number of days worked and then divided by 26. Each employeewas required to complete a timesheet every two weeks, which was approved by their supervisor, to supportthe time worked during the school year. Four of the fourteen paychecks selected for testing had errors.Two of the paychecks did not have the required timesheets, and two of the paychecks did not havetimesheets that reflected time worked to adequately support the amount paid to the employee.The lack of internal controls was a systemic issue for all disbursements throughout the audit period.The noncompliance was isolated to payroll disbursements for the school year ended June 30, 2021.Criteria2 CFR 200.303 states in part:"The non-Federal entity must:(a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that providesreasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award incompliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federalaward. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards forInternal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of theUnited States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee ofSponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ."2 CFR 200.403 states in part:"Except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet the following general criteriain order to be allowable under Federal awards:(a) Be necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocablethereto under these principles.(b) Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in these principles or in the Federalaward as to types or amount of cost items. . . .(g) Be adequately documented. . . ."2 CFR 200.430(i) states in part:"Standards for Documentation of Personnel Expenses(1) Charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records thataccurately reflect the work performed. These records must:(i) Be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonableassurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated;(ii) Be incorporated into the official records of the non-Federal entity;(iii) Reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated bythe non-Federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities . . .(vii) Support the distribution of the employee's salary or wages among specificactivities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award; aFederal award and non-Federal award; an indirect cost activity and a direct costactivity; two or more indirect activities which are allocated using different allocationbases; or an unallowable activity and a direct or indirect cost activity. . . ."CauseManagement had not developed a system of internal controls that would have ensured compliancewith the Allowable Costs/Cost Principles compliance requirement.EffectThe failure to establish an effective internal control system enabled material noncompliance to goundetected. Noncompliance with the grant agreement and the Allowable Costs/Cost Principles compliancerequirement could result in the loss of future federal funds to the School Corporation.Questioned CostsThere were no questioned costs identified.RecommendationWe recommended that the School Corporation's management establish internal controls to ensurecompliance and comply with the grant agreement and the Allowable Costs/Cost Principles compliancerequirement.Views of Responsible OfficialsFor the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.