Essex North Supervisory UnionLocal Government

Section III - Federal Awards Findings and Questioned Costs Material Weakness 2025-001 - Activities Allowed and Allowable Costs Federal Program Information: Department of Education - ALN: - 84.425D/84.425U - Education Stabilization Fund Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act/ARP ESSER ALN: - 84.027A/84.173A Special Education Cluster (IDEA) Criteria: The following CFR applies to this finding: 2 CFR 200.303 Condition: During audit procedures, it was identified that the Union does not have consistently applied internal controls over program expenditures. Cause: The Union does not have the necessary internal controls over compliance. Effect: Insufficient controls could result in unallowable expenses being charged to the program and subsequently improperly reimbursed by federal funds. Identification of Questioned Costs: None identified. Context: There were 50 cash disbursements and 13 payroll charges tested. It was found that 19 had purchase orders dated after the invoice. Repeat Finding: This is a repeat finding. Recommendation: It is recommended that the Union implements internal control processes and procedures to ensure that they are following the criteria above. Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Action Plan: Client agrees with finding, and the unabridged version of their response can be found in the Corrective Action Plan. Please see the Corrective Action Plan issued by the Essex North Supervisory Union.

2024-001 – Activities Allowed and Allowable Costs Federal Program Information: Department of Education - ALN: - 84.425D/84.425U - Education Stabilization Fund Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act/ARP ESSER Criteria: The following CFR applies to this finding: 2 CFR 200.303 Condition: During audit procedures, it was identified that the Union does not have consistently applied internal controls over program expenditures. Cause: The Union does not have the necessary internal controls over compliance. Effect: Insufficient controls could result in unallowable expenses being charged to the program and subsequently improperly reimbursed by federal funds. Identification of Questioned Costs: None identified. Context: There were 60 cash disbursements and 39 payroll charges tested. It was found that 11 of the disbursements tested did not have purchase orders, 31 had purchase orders dated after the invoice, and 10 did not have approval on the PO or invoice. This is not a statistically valid sample. Repeat Finding: This is a repeat finding. Recommendation: It is recommended that the Union implements internal control processes and procedures to ensure that they are following the criteria above. Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Action Plan: Client agrees with finding and the unabridged version of their response can be found in the Corrective Action Plan. Please see the Corrective Action Plan issued by the Essex North Supervisory Union.

2023-001 – Activities Allowed and Allowable Costs Federal Program Information: Department of Education - ALN: - 84.425D/84.425U - Education Stabilization Fund Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act/ARP ESSER Criteria: The following CFR applies to this finding: 2 CFR 200.303 Condition: During audit procedures, it was identified that the Union does not have consistently applied internal controls over program expenditures. Cause: The Union does not have the necessary internal controls over compliance. Effect: Insufficient controls could result in unallowable expenses being charged to the program and subsequently improperly reimbursed by federal funds. Identification of Questioned Costs: None identified. Context: There were 41 cash disbursements and 59 payroll charges tested. It was found that 11 of the disbursements tested did not have purchase orders, 7 had purchase orders dated after the invoice and 1 did not have an invoice. Additionally, 5 employee contracts were not signed. This is not a statistically valid sample. Repeat Finding: This is not a repeat finding. Recommendation: It is recommended that the Union implements internal control processes and procedures to ensure that they are following the criteria above. Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Action Plan: Client agrees with finding and the unabridged version of their response can be found in the Corrective Action Plan. Please see the Corrective Action Plan issued by the Essex North Supervisory Union.

2022-001 ? Special Tests and Provisions ? Subrecipient Monitoring Federal Program Information: Department of Education - ALN: - 84.425D/84.425U - Education Stabilization Fund Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act/ARP ESSER Criteria: The following CFR(s) apply to this finding: 2 CFR 200.332(a) Condition: During audit procedures, it was identified that the Union did not have a compliant subrecipient award. Cause: The Union does not have the necessary internal controls over compliance. Effect: Subrecipient awards are not executed in compliance with the requirement above. Identification of Questioned Costs: None identified. Context: There was one subrecipent. It was determined that the Union did not have a compliant subaward. This is a statistically valid sample. Repeat Finding: This is not a repeat finding. Recommendation: It is recommended that the Union implements internal control processes and procedures to ensure that they are following the criteria above. Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Action Plan: Client agrees with finding, and the unabridged version of their response can be found in the Corrective Action Plan. Please see the Corrective Action Plan issued by the Essex North Supervisory Union.