LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY FOUNDATIONNon-Profit

Finding #: 2022-001 Federal Program: Research and Development Cluster Type of Finding: Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Criteria: In accordance with the documentation standards of 2 CFR section 200.430(i), costs of compensation for personal services are allowable to the extent the total compensation for individual employees is determined and supported as provided in 2 CFR section 200.430(i), including that charges to federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. Furthermore, as provided in 2 CFR section 200.430(i), budget estimates (i.e., estimates determined before the services are performed) alone do not qualify as support for charges to Federal awards, but may be used for interim accounting purposes, provided that: 1. The system for establishing the estimates produces reasonable approximations of the activity actually performed; 2. Significant changes in the corresponding work activity (as defined by the non-Federal entity's written policies) are identified and entered into the records in a timely manner. Short term (such as one or two months) fluctuation between workload categories need not be considered as long as the distribution of salaries and wages is reasonable over the longer term; and 3. The non-Federal entity's system of internal controls includes processes to review after-the-fact interim charges made to a Federal award based on budget estimates. All necessary adjustment must be made such that the final amount charged to the Federal award is accurate, allowable, and properly allocated. 2 CFR section 200.303 requires that federal award recipients establish and maintain internal control over federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the recipient is managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statues, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal awards. Condition: The Foundation has a payroll system in place that requires hourly employees to submit time cards for approval by their direct supervisors. The approval is a key control ensuring that time coded to a federal award is allowable under the terms of that award. In our sample of timecards for hourly employees charged to Research and Development awards, there were multiple instances in which the time cards were not approved by the supervisor. Salaried employees are not required to submit time cards, and instead, the allocation of salaried employees? level of effort and payroll amount is determined during the budgeting phase. Documentation of an after-the-fact review to ensure that budgeted allocation was reflective of actual effort incurred was not retained as required by 2 CFR 200.430. Context: Of the $965,346 in expenditures coded to the Research and Development cluster of awards for the year ended June 30, 2022, $255,617 represented payroll costs. Cause: The Foundation has an established process and control procedures for approval of hourly employee?s costs charged to federal awards but that process was not followed consistently. The Foundation also has processes and procedures in place over salaried employees, however they were not documented to sufficiently support the provision under Uniform Guidance which requires an after-the-fact review of any budgeted payroll costs allocated to awards to ensure they are reflective of actual time incurred.Effect: Internal controls were not operating effectively. Questioned Costs: N/A Recommendation: We recommend that the Foundation strengthen controls to ensure adherence to its own established procedures for hourly employees and to supplement controls for salaried employees.