BARTOW, CITY OFLocal Government

Criteria In submitting the accounting records to the grantor, the City is required to certify that reported costs were incurred in performance of eligible work. Internal controls that ensure reported costs are eligible and accurate should adhere to the following standards. Uniform Guidance ? Part 2 CFR Section 200.303 |? Non-federal entities receiving federal awards must establish and maintain internal control over the federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal awards. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in ?Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government? issued by the Comptroller General of the United States or the ?Internal Control Integrated Framework?, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). 2020 Compliance Supplement: Part 6 ? Internal Control |? One of the objectives of internal control over compliance as found in 2 CFR Section 200.62 is to permit the preparation of reliable federal reports. Condition In the State of Florida?s accounting to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of eligible costs, it was determined that the City had submitted duplicate billings of $662,203 for reimbursement. Cause A series of invoices for eligible costs was supposed to be split among two separate project worksheets, but were applied at their full cost in both project worksheets. Several local representatives working for FEMA assisted the City in allocating costs among different project worksheets and submitting costs for reimbursement. The City relied on the local FEMA representatives to help them submit accurate reports and did not perform a full reconciliation of actual grant expenses to expenses reported to the grantor. Effect The lack of the reconciliation of eligible costs reported in project worksheets to proper documentation can allow errant reports to go undetected. Recommendation We recommend that the client review control procedures to ensure expenses included in grant reports reconcile to City records. This includes reconciliation and review of work performed by third parties on the City?s behalf. View of Responsible Officials At the time that Hurricane Irma costs were incurred and had to be tracked, the City?s finance department was understaffed with one supervisor, one full time employee, and one temporary employee. This limited the finance department?s ability to get involved in the review of Hurricane Irma invoices. As of September 30, 2020, the finance department has become fully staffed with one supervisor and four additional full time employees, one of which has been assigned the responsibility of grant accounting. The City feels that it will be better equipped to handle financial reporting needs of future emergencies as they arise.