Safehome, Inc.

U.S. Department of Justice, passed through from State of Kansas Office of Governor Crime Victim Assistance ? #16.575 Award Number ? 2018-V2-GX-0003 Criteria or Specific Requirement ? Allowable Costs Federal regulations state that ?charges to federal awards for salaries and wages, must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed.? The regulations also state that ?the records must be supported by a system of internal control that provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and property allocated? and that ?budget estimates alone do not qualify as support for charges to federal awards; such as estimates may be used for interim accounting purposes provided that the non-federal entity?s system of internal controls includes processes to review after-the-fact interim charges made to federal awards based on budget estimates.? (2 CFR 200.430) The Crime Victim Assistance award document states that "daily time and activity records for all staff funded by this grant project that document the services and grant projects that the staff person worked on and the time spent providing the services or programs". Condition ? During our test work over the Crime Victim Assistance grant, we noted that the Organization did not have time and activity records with sufficient detail per federal regulations and Crime Victim Assistance award document. Questioned Costs ? $119,807 was the extrapolated error based on employees selected for testing that were not fully allocated to the Crime Victim Assistance grant. Context ? During our test work over the Crime Victim Assistance grant, we selected a sample that included 23 salaries and benefits expenditures with a value of $5,414. Within our sample, we noted that the time sheets did not support the percentage of the employees time that was allocated to the grant if the employees time was allocated to multiple projects or provide for detailed daily recording of activities. These represented eight selections with a value of $523. Per discussions with management and further review, the amounts charged to the grant were based on the approved budget for the position. Salaries and benefits charged to the grant in the audit period totaled $1,131,476 and represented 91% of the total grant expenditures for the period. The sample was not intended to be, and was not, a statistically valid sample. Effect ? Based on the testing completed, the Organization does not have sufficient procedures to record and verify employees time and activity. Cause ? Management indicated that this was attributed to a misunderstanding of the requirements of the time and effort reports. Identification as a Repeat Finding ? Not applicable. Recommendation ? We recommend that management strengthen the Organization's processes to ensure that time and activity reports meet the requirements of federal regulations and Crime Victim Assistance award document. We also recommend that employees and the employees supervisors are provided training on the requirements. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions ? We agree with the auditors' comments and the following actions will be taken to improve the deficiency. The Organization will review and revise its policies and procedures for staff time and activity recording and reporting to meet the requirements of federal regulations and its federal grants. Specifically, the Organization will revise its time and activity recording procedures, and the related time and activity reports, to record and report staff members' work activities in the appropriate level of detail, form and format necessary to meet the requirements of federal regulations and its federal grants. The Grants Administrator, human resources department and accounting department will communicate and train all appropriate agency staff members regarding the revised policies and procedures required to properly record and report staff members' work activities in the appropriate level of detail, form and format necessary to meet the requirements of federal regulations and its federal grants. The Grants Administrator and Chief Financial Officer will review its revised time and activity recording and reporting procedures with its federal grant administrators to ensure its revised time and activity recording and reporting procedures meet the requirements of federal regulations and its federal grants. The Organization began a review and revision of its policies and procedures for staff time and activity recording and reporting to ensure compliance with the requirements of federal regulations and its federal grants in March 2021. These actions will be fully implemented and effective by September 1, 2021.