ARLINGTON THRIVENon-Profit

Finding No. 2021-002 - Significant deficiency: Support for grant expenses - payroll Recommendation: Procedures should be implemented that require all employees to complete timesheets that reflect the actual activity of all staff whose time is charged in whole or in part to any federal activity. Reports should have been prepared at least monthly and signed by the employee and by a responsible supervisory official having firsthand knowledge of the activities performed during the period. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action: Since the audit period, Arlington Thrive has improved its payroll procedures. Arlington Thrive has instituted the use of a technology platform (QBTime) for all employees to complete timesheets reflecting actual activity charged in whole or partially to any federal grant activity. Within QBTime, pay is classified with specific codes aligned to the specific funding source used for payroll. Employees with actual activity to any federal grant activity must use the specific codes to properly enter time against the funding source. At the end of each pay period, the immediate supervisor signs off employee timesheets submitted in QBTime. Arlington Thrive also uses other forms of performance tracking available through its newly upgraded database, Apricot Core. Interactions between staff and clients are date and time stamped. A log of these interactions is available as a report.

Finding No. 2021-003: Support for grant expenses - client eligibility files Recommendation: Controls should be in place to ensure proper documentation is maintained per grant agreements, and requests made to the County if shared client files are incomplete. The supervisors should periodically review client files to ensure completeness. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action: During the audit period, Arlington Thrive employees were dealing with a great number of changes due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the continuous changing of the Arlington County guidance and the transition of the Arlington Thrive workforce to a virtual, teleworking environment. Further, many of the Arlington Thrive clients had very limited access to internet and a computer, and had very little technology skills; therefore, proper documentation was very difficult to acquire and quite scarce. Even after Arlington Thrive's attempt to collect proper documentation and/or shared client files, the challenges continued. Since the audit period, Arlington has made two improvements: 1. In the 3rd quarter of FY21 , a Quality Assurance Specialist position was created to focus on conducting periodic reviews of client files to validate proper documentation per grant agreement is maintained and to validate client files are complete. Arlington Thrive conducted its first internal case management document audit at the end of FY21 to identify potential gaps with proper documentation and to assist case management team in remediating potential control weaknesses. 2. Arlington Thrive upgraded its internal database to Apricot Core, improving the capability of document collection and mitigating the number of incomplete files. Further, all requests entered in the database are required to include proper supporting documentation for final approval.

Finding No. 2021 -004: Support for grant expenses - payments Recommendation: Before a payment is made, checks should be compared to the supporting documentation. Any discrepancies should be documented and followed up with the referral source or the client to ensure the documentation agrees and supports the payments made. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action: Many discrepancies between the checks and the supporting documentation were due to delays in acquiring funding during the time of the application; and the large number of applications submitted during the beginning stages of COVID-19 pandemic. Leasing offices were closed making it hard to acquire rental ledgers. Leases were not being renewed , and hardcopies of leases were not being distributed due to the nationwide shutdown. Arlington Thrive has made improvements since the audit period. In FY22, Arlington Thrive rolled out a case management dashboard from its newly upgraded internal database, Apricot Core. This dashboard allows Arlington Thrive case managers to store supporting documents along with client fund requests (payments made to vendors). This facilitates the identification of supporting documents and helps validate the final payment to be disbursed. Supporting documents and data are securely stored in Apricot Core. It also includes a mobile platform, Connect, where applicants can independently complete an application and submit all documents for assistance. This mobile platform capability provides the opportunity to expand as a countywide tool for future assistance.