Issues found in county audit
State auditors found problems with two Grant County agencies filing reports on time for federal grants and other financial reports.
The state auditor’s office released its final report for 2008, looking at accountability, financial statements and federal program compliance.
EPHRATA — State auditors found problems with two Grant County agencies filing reports on time for federal grants and other financial reports.
The state auditor’s office released its final report for 2008, looking at accountability, financial statements and federal program compliance.
The first finding pointed out a $330,051 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for video conferencing equipment for Grant Mental Healthcare. The grant requires the county to submit a financial status report and a project performance activity report 90 days after the date of the agreement and 90 days after the beginning of each year, according to the auditor’s report.
The auditors noted the reports for 2008 and 2009 weren’t filed when they started the audit.
“The grant was initially managed by the executive director of Grant Mental Healthcare with little involvement from other staff,” according to the report. “Due to turnover in that position and the lack of adequate cross-training in grant requirements staff was unaware of reporting requirements.”
A similar situation occurred with a $187,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the Prevention and Recovery Center. The grant required reports to be filed within 60 days of the end of the fiscal year, according to the auditor’s report. The reports for 2009 weren’t filed.
The auditor noted the center’s director handled the report, and because of turnover combined with the consolidation of the center with Grant Mental Healthcare, the reports weren’t filed.
Both Auditor Bill Varney and Commissioner Cindy Carter said the county has a system to track when the reports need to be filed.
Carter said the accounting department is in charge of filing the reports, adding the department isn’t subject to the same problems of people leaving their positions.
The final finding dealt with the county’s switch from an accrual-based reporting system to a cash-based system in 2008.
The change moved the county to reporting the money it received and spent rather than reporting the money the county expects to receive and spent, Varney said in a previous interview. The system makes the reports easier to put together, saving the county money.
Jake Santistevan, a state assistant audit manager, said in a March meeting, the county did research the system, but failed to report $170 million in four payroll and clearing funds and 16 agency funds. The county wouldn’t have needed to report the money with the previous system.
The finding also pointed out 14 federal grants were missed when the county reported how much money was spent. Santistevan said the departments knew the grants were federal, but the information didn’t get to the accounting department.
“This was the first year that Grant County had prepared the annual report on a cash basis,” according to the county’s response. “A training session by the state auditor’s office on cash reporting has been scheduled to take place in Grant County.”
The additional training is expected to help staff prepare the reports, according to the response.
“We will make every effort to have a knowledgeable person review the financial statements before they are submitted,” according to the county’s response. “More staff time will be committed to assure that grant expenditure information is appropriately reported for all grants.”