Single Audit Report for 2015
Nine of the 29 major federally-funded programs administered by the state failed to comply with certain federal program requirements and were given qualified opinions in the annual Single Audit of federal funds, according to a report issued today by the Legislative Auditor.
The Single Audit is required to be filed by auditors by the end of March each year to inform federal agencies whether the state has complied – or not – with the requirements of federal assistance programs. It recaps in one report many of the findings that already have been reported throughout the fiscal year by the state auditor’s staff.
The programs given qualified opinions were:
· Community Development Block Grants – The Office of Community Development (OCD) within the Division of Administration identified $263 million in noncompliant awards for 7,844 homeowners in the Homeowner Assistance Program. In addition, OCD placed 186 property owners with Small Rental Property Program loans in recovery status for noncompliance with loan requirements. The loans total more than $18 million.
· Workforce Investment Act Cluster – For the fourth consecutive year, the Louisiana Workforce Commission did not perform adequate monitoring for any of the 18 subrecipients receiving money through the program.
· Alcohol Open Container Requirements and Minimum Penalties for Repeat Offenders for Driving While Intoxicated – The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, which is a part of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, and the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) failed to comply with certain federal regulations governing the programs related to contract payment provisions and monitoring subrecipients, which could result in the state having to repay some of the funds.
· Highway Planning and Construction Cluster – For the second consecutive year, DOTD did not perform monitoring reviews of the subrecipients in the program.
· Community Services Block Grant – The Louisiana Workforce Commission did not conduct required on-site reviews of subrecipients who received approximately $14 million of the $15 million spent under the program.
· Foster Care – Title IV-E – The Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Office of Juvenile Justice did not have adequate support or used unapproved rates in making maintenance payments totaling more than $2.7 million to seven residential care facilities.
· Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid Cluster – For the third consecutive year, the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure federal cash management requirements were followed. In a new finding, DHH failed to keep required processes in place that allow the department to recover paid claims where a third party is liable for medical services provided to Medicaid recipients. Also, DHH did not establish procedures to recover previously identified instances of third-party liabilities that totaled approximately $29 million.
As a result of the findings included in the Single Audit, $302,027,736 in costs have been questioned by auditors, for which the state could be liable. “The resolution of these questioned costs will be determined by the respective (federal) grantors,” the report said.
The state received nearly $14.8 billion in federal dollars, including loan programs, in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2015, which is a decrease from the $15.4 billion Louisiana received in fiscal year 2014.
A total of 58 findings were reported in the Single Audit for the 2015 fiscal year – 19 that were repeat findings from a prior audit and 39 that were new. The Single Audit for fiscal year 2014 reported 20 new findings and 14 repeat findings for a total of 34.
For more information contact:
Legislative Auditor
225.339.3800