audit_findings
Data license: CC BY 4.0 · Data source: MyTown
2,588 rows
This data as json, CSV (advanced)
Suggested facets: match_method, audit_type, fiscal_year, finding_category, severity, period_start (date), period_end (date), published_date (date), fetched_at (date)
| Link | rowid ▼ | source | report_number | finding_number | muni_id | state | entity_name | entity_type | entity_ext_id | place_geoid | match_method | auditor | report_title | audit_type | fiscal_year | period_start | period_end | published_date | finding_category | severity | questioned_cost | cost_basis | finding_title | finding_text | report_url | fetched_at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | wa-sao | 1017656 | 2015-001 | 4 | WA | City of Seattle | City/Town | 0433 | 5363000 | geoid_place | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — City of Seattle | Financial and Federal | 2015 | 2015-01-01 | 2015-12-31 | 2019-08-19 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 928647.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $928,647 | The City did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure compliance with federal subrecipient monitoring requirements. CFDA Number and Title: 14.218 Community Development Block Grants/Entitlement Grants Federal Grantor Name: U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Award/Contract Number: B10MC530005, B11MC530005, B12MC530005, B13MC530005, B14MC530005, B15MC530005 Pass-t | Description of Condition The objective of the Community Development Block Grant program is to develop viable urban communities by providing decent housing, a suitable living environment, and expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income. The City of Seattle spent $11.6 million in grant funds from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The City’s Human Service Department passed on $3.8 million to five subrecipients during 2015 to provide homeless assistance to City’s residents. Federal regulations require the City to perform risk evaluations to evaluate subrecipients’ risk of noncompliance to determine the appropriate level of monitoring. It also requires the City to monitor the subrecipients’ activities to ensure that the subawards are used for authorized purposes which can be accomplished by either requiring subrecipient invoices to contain supporting documentation or reviewing supporting documentation during on -site visits. That monitoring, particularly the on -site visit s, is important to ensure that the subrecipients’ administration of programs are appropriate and in compliance with applicable requirements, including those related to allowable and supported costs. Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 10 The City requires the subrecipients to submit detailed general ledger reports as part of the request for payment and has a policy for semi-annual on-site visits to review documentation included in the report to ensure the costs are allowable and supported. The City’s process for subrecipient monitoring is not working as intended. During our audit, we found: The Human Service Department did not perform risk assessments for the three subrecipients we selected for review. For two of the three subrecipients reviewed, the Human Service Department did not obtain supporting documentation with the requests for payment, nor did they perform on-site visits, where a review of documentation to support the costs reimbursed would h… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1017656&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 |
| 2 | 2 | wa-sao | 1017656 | 2015-002 | 4 | WA | City of Seattle | City/Town | 0433 | 5363000 | geoid_place | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — City of Seattle | Financial and Federal | 2015 | 2015-01-01 | 2015-12-31 | 2019-08-19 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 1566880.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $1,566,880 | The City did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure compliance with federal subre cipient monitoring requirements. CFDA Number and Title: 14.267 Continuum of Care Program Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Federal Award/Contract Number: Multiple awards Pass-through Entity Name: N/A Pass-through Award/Contract Number: N/A Questioned Cost Amo | Background The City of Seattle’s Human Service Department administers the Continuum of Care Program. This program is designed to promote communitywide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness by providing housing and supportive services to homeless individuals a nd families. The Department spent $11.4 million in Continuum of Care funds, of which $10.6 million was passed on to subrecipients who perform the primary activities of this program. Description of Condition Federal regulations require the City to monitor subrecipients’ activities to ensure that subwards are used for authorized purposes which can be accomplished by subrecipients submitting invoices containing supporting source documentation or reviewing supporting source documentation during on-site visits. That monitoring, particularly the on -site visits, is important to ensure that subrecipients’ administration of programs are appropriate and in compliance with federal requirements, including those related to allowable costs and activities. During the current audit, we found: The Department utilized a monitoring log to track on -site visits for subrecipients by project. However, the log excluded 36 of the 82 projects Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 18 during 2015. Without a complete and current log, the Department cannot ensure site visits are performed and tracked for all subrecipients’ projects. The Department’s policy is to perform semi -annual site visits; however, it did not perform on -site visits that included a fiscal review of invoices or other documentation required to support the costs incurred for eight of the 16 projects reviewed. For the fiscal reviews that were conducted, documentation was not always sufficiently complete to establish that site visits were adequately performed. We consider these control deficiencies to be material weaknesses. Cause of Condition The Grants and Contracts Specialists who perform on -site visits did not have the necessary training and resources to perform adequa… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1017656&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 |
| 3 | 3 | wa-sao | 1017656 | 2015-003 | 4 | WA | City of Seattle | City/Town | 0433 | 5363000 | geoid_place | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — City of Seattle | Financial and Federal | 2015 | 2015-01-01 | 2015-12-31 | 2019-08-19 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | The City did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure accurate financial reporting on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards | Background City management is responsible for designing and following internal controls that provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting. These controls should ensure financial events are identified properly and presented completely. Controls should also ensure the criteria and accounting methodology applied to financial events are correct. Local governments in Washington that spend federal funds must prepare a Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA) as part of the annual f inancial report. Federal regulations require grantees to identify, in their accounts, all federal money spent on the SEFA each fiscal year. Our audit identified a deficiency in internal controls that adversely affected the City’s ability to produce a relia ble SEFA. Because of its effect on the City’s financial reporting, we consider this a significant deficiency. Description of Condition When preparing the SEFA, the Citywide Accounting department relied on other City departments’ supporting documentation a nd information to ensure accurate presentation. During the 2017 audit, Citywide Accounting brought to our attention that a department did not report its 2015 grant expenditures for the CFDA 66.458 Capitalization Grants for Clean Water State Revolving Funds , which were funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Cause of Condition The City did not clearly understand the SEFA reporting requirements for the grant under the Budgeting, Accounting and Reporting System (BARS) Manual and Uniform Guidance. The Department treated this grant as a federal loan and reported the 2015 expenditures upon its first drawdown in 2017. Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 7 Effect of Condition Inaccurate financial reports limit access to financial information used by Ci ty officials, the public, state and federal agencies and other interested parties. In addition, these conditions delay the audit process and increase audit costs. The City understated its 2015 SEFA by $… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1017656&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 4 | 4 | wa-sao | 1018576 | 2015-001 | WA | Town of Coupeville | City/Town | 0357 | 5315185 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Town of Coupeville | Financial and Federal | 2015 | 2014-01-01 | 2015-12-31 | 2018-09-20 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | The Town did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure accurate financial reporting on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards | Background Town management is responsible for designing and following internal controls that provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting. These controls should ensure financial events are identified properly and presented completely. Controls should also ensur e the criteria and accounting methodology applied to financial events is correct. Our audit identified a deficiency in internal controls that adversely affected the Town’s ability to produce reliable schedules. Because of its effect on the Town’s financial reporting, we consider this a significant deficiency. Local governments in Washington that spend federal funds must prepare a Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA) as part of the annual financial report. Federal regulations require grantees to identify, in their accounts, all federal money spent on the SEFA each fiscal year. If the government spends $750,000 or more in federal grant awards in a year, it must arrange for an audit of its federal grants, in accordance with federal regulations. Further, the government must submit the single audit reporting package to the federal government within 30 calendar days after we issue our audit report or within nine months after the end of the audit period, whichever is earlier. Description of Condition The Town’s internal controls over financial reporting of the SEFA were not sufficient to ensure accurate presentation . Although required for governments reporting on a cash basis, t he Town did not report expenditures paid related to a federal loan on the SEFA. Cause of Condition The Town did not have a clear understanding of the SEFA reporting requirements for its federal grants and loans and did not follow guidance provided in the Budgeting, Accounting and Reporting System (BARS) Manual or Uniform Guidance. Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 7 Although the Town had procedures in place to review the required schedules, the review was not adequate to detect and correct errors related… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1018576&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |||
| 5 | 5 | wa-sao | 1019842 | 2016-001 | WA | Ferry County | County | 0113 | 53019 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Ferry County | Financial and Federal | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2019-02-19 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | The County’s internal controls over financial statement preparation were inadequate to ensure accurate reporting of federal expenditures | Background County management is responsible for designing and follo wing internal controls that provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting. Our audit identified deficiencies in internal controls that hindered the County’s ability to produce reliable financial statements. All local gover nments in Washington that spend federal funds must prepare a Schedule of Expenditure of Federal Awards (SEFA) as part of the annual financial report. Title 2 Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles and Audit Requirements for Federal A wards (Uniform Guidance) requires grantees to identify, in their accounts, all federal program awards received and spent and to report all federal awards spent on the SEFA each fiscal year. Description of Condition Our audit identified a deficiency in internal controls over financial reporting that represents a significant deficiency. The County’s Accounting Department primarily relied on individual departments to submit complete and accurate federal grant expenditure information to the Accounting Depar tment for reporting. The Department did not have an adequate secondary review process of this information to verify whether grant expenditures were included in the proper period. Cause of Condition The Accounting Department compares federal grant revenue received in the year to federal expenditures reported by its departments to confirm that those expenditures are reasonable. However, the Accounting Department did not also consider reimbursements that County departments receive subsequent to year-end. In addition, prior Public Works staff did not have sufficient knowledge of federal requirements to report federal grant expenditures accurately. The Public Works Department inaccurately provided information for federal grant reimbursements, rather than expenditures. Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 7 Effect of Condition Inaccurate financial reports limit access to financial information used by County officials,… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1019842&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |||
| 6 | 6 | wa-sao | 1019842 | 2016-002 | WA | Ferry County | County | 0113 | 53019 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Ferry County | Financial and Federal | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2019-02-19 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The County did not have adequate internal controls to comply with Davis-Bacon Act (wage rate) requirements. CFDA Number and Title: 20.205, Highway Planning and Construction Federal Grantor Name: Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Washington State Department of Transportation Pass-through Award/Contract Number: LA | Background The County spent $1,970,353 federal Highway Planning and Construction funds in 2016. $1,372,075 was spent on the Boulder Creek project for construction of about three miles of roadway. The County spent $529,662 on the Curlew Storm project for construction of a thin lift overlay. The Davis -Bacon Act (Act) requires all laborers and mechanics employed by contractors or subcontractors for work on construction projects financed with more than $2,000 of federal funds to be paid wages no less than those established for the locality of the project (prevailing wage rates) by the Department of Labor. The Act includes a requirement for the contractor and subcontractor to submit to the County weekly, for each week in which any contract work was performed, a copy of its payroll and a signed “Statement of Compliance” (weekly certified payroll reports). The prime contractor may collect the weekly certified payroll reports for the County during the project, but the County remains responsible for compliance and maintaining the documents according to records retention requirements. Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 10 Description of Condition The County did not have adequate controls in place to ensure it collects all weekly certified payroll reports from its prime contractor and subcontractors performing work on its federally funded projects. We consider this deficiency to be a material weakness. This issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. Cause of Condition The County documented subcontractors that worked on the projects and used that information to request weekly certified payroll reports for those periods from the prime contractor. However, the prime contractor did not collect all weekly certified payrolls from subcontractors, and the County did not have a process to follow up when its prime contractor did not respond to the initial request, or separately collect them. Effect of Condition and Questioned Costs The County did not collect 11 of the 89 required we… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1019842&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |
| 7 | 7 | wa-sao | 1020019 | 2016-001 | 4 | WA | City of Seattle | City/Town | 0433 | 5363000 | geoid_place | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — City of Seattle | Financial and Federal | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2019-08-19 | internal_controls | The City did not maintain adequate processes and controls within the Customer Care and Billings system to ensure proper security roles were maintained and provide reliable reporting | Background City management is responsible for designing and following internal controls that provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting. A certified public accounting firm audited the fund financial statements of the City of Seattle City Light Department and provided its report to our Office. In accordance with auditing standards, we are responsible for reporting internal control deficiencies that affect the City’s financial reporting. Descrip tion of Condit ion The certified public accountant firm’s report identified the following significant deficiency in internal controls over financial reporting: “The financial internal control documentation associated with the CCB [Customer Care and Billings] implementation was incomplete as of the financial statement d ate. In addition, the D epartment’s internal audit personnel was involved in the design and rollout of the IT [Information Technology] security controls in the system. It was also noted that reliable billing system reports were not available in the new system and the processes and controls surrounding the billing/revenue adjustments was not consistently maintained during 2016.” Cause of Condition “The Department did not update previously provided internal control documentation during the pre- and post-implementation phases of the CCB implementation within the finance division.” Effec t of Conditi on “Internal audit personnel was also involved in several IT implementation roles of the system which decreases the reliance that can be placed on future work of the in ternal audit department related to security ov er the CCB system. In Washington State Auditor's Office addition, r eliable reporting tools were created with limited verification of accuracy during the implementation and billing system adjustments were not reviewed during the year.” Rec omm endations The certified public accountant firm recommended the following: Document financial, physical and IT processes and controls associated… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1020019&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |||
| 8 | 8 | wa-sao | 1020019 | 2016-002 | 4 | WA | City of Seattle | City/Town | 0433 | 5363000 | geoid_place | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — City of Seattle | Financial and Federal | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2019-08-19 | internal_controls | material_weakness | The Seattle City Employees’ Retirement System d id not have adequate internal controls in its accounting, which caused delays in its annual financial statement preparation | Background Management is responsible for designing, implementing and maintaining internal controls to fairly present financial statements and provide reasonable assurance regarding reliability of financial reporting. The City prepares its financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as prescribed by the Budgeting, Accounting and Reporting System (BARS) Manual. A certified public accountant firm audited the fund financial statements of the Seattle City Employees’ Retirement System [SCERS] and provided its report to our Office. In accordance with auditing standards, we are responsible for reporting internal control deficiencies that affect the City’s financial reporting. Descrip tion of Condit ion The certified public accountant firm’s audit identified the following significant deficiency in internal controls over financial reporting: “Account Reconciliations and Reporting During the year, the investment and securities lending general ledger accounts were not analyzed and reconciled with subsidiary information on a periodic basis. These periodic reconciliations, together with the posting of correcting journal entries, help ensure timely and accurate interim financial information that can be used to monitor and control operations. In addition, timely reconciliation of accounts is most cost efficient, since reconciliation at a later date is often more difficult and time consuming. A key accounting system goal should be to provide tim ely, accurate financial information for management.” Cause of Condition The City did not prioritize timely account reconciliations of the Seattle City Employees’ Retirement System. Washington State Auditor's Office Effec t of Conditi on Timely reconciliations of general ledger accounts were not performed throughout the year. Further, untim ely reconciliations caused a delay in pr eparing the fin ancial statements. Rec omm endations The certified public accountant firm recommended: “SCERS adopt procedures to ensure … | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1020019&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 9 | 9 | wa-sao | 1020019 | 2016-003 | 4 | WA | City of Seattle | City/Town | 0433 | 5363000 | geoid_place | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — City of Seattle | Financial and Federal | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2019-08-19 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 3291160.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $3,291,160 | The City did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure compliance with federal requirements over allowable costs and subrecipient monitoring. CFDA Number and Title: 14.218 Community Development Block Grants/Entitlement Grants Federal Grantor Name: U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Award/Contract Number: B16MC530005, B14MC530005, B15MC530005, | The City did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure compliance with federal requirements over allowable costs and subrecipient monitoring. CFDA Number and Title: 14.218 Community Development Block Grants/Entitlement Grants Federal Grantor Name: U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Award/Contract Number: B16MC530005, B14MC530005, B15MC530005, B13MC530005, B10MC530005 Pass-through Entity Name: NA Pass-through Award/Contract NA Number: Questioned Cost Amount: $3,291,160 Des cripti on o f Con dit ion The objective of the Community Development Block Grant program is to develop viable urban communities by providi ng d ecent housing and a suitable living environment, and expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income. During 2016, the City of Seattle spent $10,930,929 in federal grant funds under this program, of which $6,124,407 was passed to 17 subrecipients for 30 projects. The City must monitor subrecipients’ activities to ensure subawards are used for authorized purposes. This monitoring can be accomplished through collecting supporting documentation from subrecipients with requests for payment or reviewing supporting documentation during onsite monitoring vis its. The mon itoring, particularly the onsite visits, is important to ensure that a subrecipient’s administration of the program is appropriate and complies with federal requirements, including those relating to allowable costs and activities and rehabilitation requirements. For those Washington State Auditor's Office subawards funded under the Uniform Guidance, the City also must perform risk assessments to evaluate subrecipients’ risk of noncompliance and d etermine the appropriate level of monitoring. The City requires its subrecipients to submit detailed general ledger reports as part of the request for payment and has a policy that requires semiannual onsite visits to review supporting documentation to ensure costs charged to the program are allow… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1020019&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 |
| 10 | 10 | wa-sao | 1020019 | 2016-004 | 4 | WA | City of Seattle | City/Town | 0433 | 5363000 | geoid_place | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — City of Seattle | Financial and Federal | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2019-08-19 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 101972.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $101,972 | The City did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure compliance with federal requirements over allowable costs and subrecipient monitoring. CFDA Number and Title: 14.241 Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Federal Grantor Name: Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development Federal Award/Contract Number: WAH13-F001,WAH14-F001, WAH15 | Cause of Condition The grants and contracts specialists responsible for approving subrecipient requests for payments and performing onsite visits did not have the necessary tr aining and resources to perform adequate reviews. The Department was not aware that risk evaluations are required for all subrecipients receiving money from federal awards. During our 2016 audit, the Department was made aware of this requirement and developed and implemented a new subrecipient monitoring policy manual and trained grants and contracts specialists in 2017. Effec t of Conditi on and Questio ned Cost s Without adequate internal controls in place, the Department cannot ensure the subrecipients used the program funds in accordance with t he grant agreement and federal requirements. The Department paid $101,972 to one subrecipient without performing an onsite fiscal visit or requiring adequate supporting documentation for incurred costs. Because of insufficient review of subrecipient expenditures, the City used federal funds to reimburse its subrecipient for costs that were not supported as required. As a result, we are questioning the total amount paid to this subrecipient. Washington State Auditor's Office Rec omm endations We recommend the Department establish internal controls to ensure compliance with the subrecipient monitoring requirements. Specifically, the Department should: Provide training and resources to grants and contracts specialists to ensure they have an adequate understanding of federal requirements over allowable costs and subrecipient monitoring Evaluate each subrecipient’s risk of noncompliance to determine the appropriate level of monitoring activities Perform adequate financial review required by City policies through: Requiring subrecipients to provide adequate documentation to support the incurred costs; and/or Performing onsite visits that include a review of source documentation. City’s Respo nse The City agrees with the Auditor’s finding and had taken correctiv… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1020019&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 |
| 11 | 11 | wa-sao | 1020019 | 2016-005 | 4 | WA | City of Seattle | City/Town | 0433 | 5363000 | geoid_place | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — City of Seattle | Financial and Federal | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2019-08-19 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 1180042.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $1,180,042 | The City did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure compliance with federal requirements over allowable cost and subrecipient monitoring. CFDA Number and Title: 14.267 Continuum of Care Program Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Federal Award/Contract Number: Multiple awards Pass-through Entity Name: NA Pass-through Award/Contract NA Number | Cause of Condition The grants and contracts specialists responsible for approving subrecipient requests for payments and performing onsite visits did not have the necessary tr aining and resources to perform adequate reviews. The Department was not aware that risk evaluations are required for all subrecipients receiving money from federal awards. During our 2016 audit, the Department was made aware of this requirement and developed and implemented a new subrecipient monitoring policy manual and trained grants and contracts specialists in 2017. Washington State Auditor's Office Effec t of Conditi on and Questio ned Cost s Without adequate internal controls in place, the Department cannot ensure that the subrecipients used the program funds in accordance with the grant agreement and federal requirements. Our audit found fis cal or pr ogram monitoring was not performed during 2016 for 10 of 16 projects tested. The Department performed onsite visits for three projects in early 2017 and reviewed supporting documentation to verify the costs and activities were allowable. As a result, we are not questioning the costs related to these projects. The Department paid $1,180,042 for seven projects without performing onsite visits or requiring adequate supporting do cumentation for incurred costs. Because of insufficient review of subrecipient expenditures, the City us ed federal funds to reimburse six subrecipients for costs that were not supported as required. As a result, we are questioning the total amount paid to these subrecipients. We projected the identified error from our non-statistical sample of 16 projects to all 74 projects funded by the program, which resulted in an estimated $5,457,692 in likely questioned costs. The known questioned costs of $1,180,042 are includ ed in the to tal likely questioned costs of $5,457,692. Rec omm endations We recommend the Human Service Department establish internal controls to ensure compliance with the subrecipient monitoring requirements. Specifically… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1020019&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 |
| 12 | 12 | wa-sao | 1020019 | 2016-006 | 4 | WA | City of Seattle | City/Town | 0433 | 5363000 | geoid_place | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — City of Seattle | Financial and Federal | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2019-08-19 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | The City did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure accurate financial reporting on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards | Background City management is responsible for designing and following internal controls that provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting. These controls should ensure financial events are identified properly and presented completely. Controls should also ensure the criteria and accounting methodology applied to financial events are correct. Local governments in Washington that spend federal funds must prepare a Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA) as part of the annual financial report. Federal regulations require grantees to identify, in their accounts, all federal money spent on the SEFA each fiscal year. Our audit identified a deficiency in internal controls that adversely affected the City’s ability to produce a relia ble SEFA. Because of its effect on the City’s financial reporting, we consider this a significant deficiency. Description of Condition When preparing the SEFA, the Citywide Accounting department relied on other City departments’ supporting documentation a nd information to ensure accurate presentation. During the 2017 audit, Citywide Accounting brought to our attention that a department did not report its 2016 grant expenditures for the CFDA 66.458 Capitalization Grants for Clean Water State Revolving Funds , which were funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Cause of Condition The City did not clearly understand the SEFA reporting requirements for the grant under the Budgeting, Accounting and Reporting System (BARS) Manual and Uniform Guidance. The Department treated this grant as a federal loan and reported the 2016 expenditures upon its first drawdown in 2017. Washington State Auditor's Office Effect of Condition Inaccurate financial reports limit access to financial information used by City officials, the public, state and federal agencies and other interested parties. In addition, these conditions delay the audit process and increase audit costs. The City understated its 2016 SEFA by $17,760,345 b… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1020019&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 13 | 13 | wa-sao | 1020241 | 2016-001 | WA | Shoreline Fire Department | Fire Protection District | 1126 | not_municipal | Washington State Auditor's Office | Accountability audit — Shoreline Fire Department | Accountability | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2018-08-27 | procurement | The District did not verify purchases made through its purchasing cooperative complied with the state laws and regulations | Background Fire districts are required to competitively bid all purchases over $50,000 (RCW 52.14.110). Specifications for the purchases must be available to all interested parties and must be approved by the governing body. The submitted bids must be opened and read publicly at a fixed time and place. State law allows fire districts to fulfill bidding requirements through a process referred to as piggybacking. “Piggybacking” refers to one local government making purchases from contracts awarded by another government or group of governments via an interlocal agreement or contract. To ensure compliance when procuring through piggybacking, the local government must ensure its own bidding requirements are met before expending public funds. Description of Condition In 2016, Shoreline Fire District entered into a purchasing cooperative to purchase a ladder truck totaling $1,187,500. The District observed other public agencies use the same purchasing group and verified state law authorized the use of purchasing cooperatives. However, the District did not ensure the procurement process used by the purchasing cooperative complied with Washington bid requirements. The purchasing cooperative selected a vendor using a request for proposal process, rather than a formal competitive bidding process. Cause of Condition The purchasing cooperative’s procurement method complied with the out -of-state lead agency’s bid requirements; however, it did not satisfy the procurement regulations in Washington. The District believed all Washington procurement regulations were met by entering into the cooperative contract. However, the District did not know they were required to verify and maintain evidence that Washington’s bid laws were satisfied. Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 6 Effect of Condition The District cannot demonstra te it adequately safeguarded public resources by ensuring that the purchase complied with the District’s applicable laws and regulations. Recommendation We recommend the… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1020241&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |||||
| 14 | 14 | wa-sao | 1020366 | 2016-001 | WA | City of Chehalis | City/Town | 0487 | 5311475 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — City of Chehalis | Financial and Federal | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2019-03-28 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | The City’s accounting and financial statement preparation controls were not adequate to accurately report the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards | Background City management is responsible for designing and following internal controls that provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting . The City also must prepare a Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA) as part of the annual financial report. Title 2 Part 200 - Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards requires a grantee to identify, in its accounts, all federal program awards received and expended. The City must report all federal awards expended on the SEFA each fiscal year. Our audit identified internal control deficiencies that adversely affected the City’s ability to produce reliable financial statements. Description of Condition The former Finance Manager was unaware of the types of grants received by the City, which contributed to the City’s lack of controls over the proper reporting of both state and federal grants on the SEFA. Additionally, t he City did not have an effective review process to ensure the accuracy of the SEFA. We consider this to be a significant deficiency in internal controls. Cause of Con dition The former Finance Manager lacked adequate training and resources to accurately report federal expenditures on the schedule. Further, the City lacked a formalized review process over the final financial statement s. Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 7 Effect of Condition Our audit identified the following errors on the SEFA provided for audit: Airport Improvement Grant program (CFDA 20.106) grant expenditures were understated by $576,693. A State Transportation Grant was recorded in error , which resulted in the program being overstated by $396,180. These changes to the SEFA resulted in a change of audit scope that required the City to obtain an audit of an additional federal grant program for fiscal year 2016. The city corrected these errors. Recommendation s We recommend the City: Ensure employees responsible for financial statement preparati… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1020366&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |||
| 15 | 15 | wa-sao | 1020366 | 2016-002 | WA | City of Chehalis | City/Town | 0487 | 5311475 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — City of Chehalis | Financial and Federal | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2019-03-28 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The City did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with federal Davis -Bacon Act (prevailing wage) requirements. CFDA Number and Title: 20.106 Airport Improvement Grant Federal Grantor Name: Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Award/Contract Number: 3-53-0012-017-2016 Pass-through Entity Name: NA Pass-through Award/Contract Number: NA Quest | Background During fiscal year 2016, the City of Chehalis spent $692,210 through the Airport Improvement Grant. The Davis-Bacon Act (Act) requires that all laborers and mechanics employed by contractors or subcontractors to work on construction contracts of more than $2,000 financed with federal funds must be p aid wages not less than those established for the locality of the project (prevailing wage rates) by the Department of Labor. The A ct includes a requirement for the contractor or subcontractor to submit to the City weekly, for each week in which any contract work is performed, a copy of its payroll and a statement of compliance (weekly certified payroll). Description of Condition The City did not have an adequate process in place to ensure contractors and subcontractors working on federal grant -funded projects filed week ly certified payrolls. Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 10 We consider this internal control deficiency to be a material weakness, which led to material noncompliance. This issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. Cause of Condition The City did not dedicate the necessary resources to develop an adequate system of monitoring and review to ensure weekly certified payrolls were submitted by all contractors and subcontractors. The City did not know it could assess sanctions for contractor noncompliance with this requirement. Effect of Condition and Questioned Costs The City did not obtain all weekly certified payrolls for the Chehalis -Centralia Airport Apron Rehabilitation project. Our audit found that 28 of the 104 required weekly certified payroll reports were not obtained d uring 2016. The missing weekly certified payroll reports were all from subcontractors. Without adequate internal controls, the City cannot demonstrate workers were paid prevailing wages as required by the Act. The City could be liable for paying additional wages if prevailing wages were not paid. Recommendation We recommend the City implement internal controls… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1020366&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |
| 16 | 16 | wa-sao | 1020705 | 2017-001 | WA | Northwest Educational Service District No 189 | Educational Service District | 2649 | not_municipal | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Northwest Educational Service District No 189 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-31 | internal_controls | significant_deficiency | The District did not report the liabilities related to its other postemployment benefits in accordance with governmental accounting standards | Background District board members, state and federal agencies, and the public rely on the information included in the financial statements and report to make decisions. District management is responsible for designing and following in ternal controls that provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting. Our audit identified a significant deficiency in internal controls over financial reporting that hindered the District’s ability to produce reliable finan cial statements. Description of Condition The District did not report the liabilities related to other postemployment benefits in accordance with Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 45 – Accounting and Financial Reporting by Employ ers for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions. Cause of Condition When GASB Statement No. 45 became effective for governments, the District reported under a different basis of accounting. Subsequently, the District switched to reporting in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP); and asserts that staff evaluated the GASB during conversion and determined it was not applicable. The District chose not to restate the financial statements to include other post - employment benefits for fiscal year 2017. Effect of Condition District did not obtain an actuarial study to determine the amount of liabilities related to other post-employment benefits. Consequently, the District did not report Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ this liability or present the note disclosures and other information required by generally accepted accounting principles. Recommendation s We recommend the District: Perform necessary research and obtain needed actuarial studies to correctly report other post-employment benefit liabilities on its financial statements. Establish a more formalize process for technical review of the finan… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1020705&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||||
| 17 | 17 | wa-sao | 1020910 | fraud-investigation | 4 | WA | City of Seattle | City/Town | 0433 | 5363000 | geoid_place | Washington State Auditor's Office | Fraud investigation — City of Seattle | Fraud | 2015 | 2009-01-01 | 2015-11-30 | 2018-05-31 | misappropriation | fraud_investigation | Investigation Summary On April 24, 2017, the Director of Citywide Accounting and Payroll notified our Office regarding a potential loss of public funds as state law requires. The City contracted with an investigative firm and provided the City a summary report of its investigation. We reviewed the i | Investigation Summary On April 24, 2017, the Director of Citywide Accounting and Payroll notified our Office regarding a potential loss of public funds as state law requires. The City contracted with an investigative firm and provided the City a summary report of its investigation. We reviewed the investigative firm’s investigation report and agree with its conclusions. The investigation determined that funds collected by the City between January 2009 and November 2015 for the employee giving and volunteer program were not deposited or turned over to the charities, resulting in questionable activity totaling $20,978. Background and Investigation Results The City, located in King County, operates on an annual budget of about $5.1 billion including $1.1 billion for the general fund. The City has implemented an employee giving and volunteer program, Seattle Shares, that facilitates employee philanthropy by offering ways for employees to give to charities. The most common method that employees use to contribute is through payroll deductions; employees also may give one-time gifts of cash or checks during department fundraising events. The Seattle Shares Program Coordinator started with the City in March 2008. Her job duties included entering donor information into the Human Resources Information System’s payroll database (EV5), answering customer questions and presenting funds for deposit to the Treasury Department. Employees also had the option to submit their charitable donations directly t o the Treasury Department. A separate employee handled any donations made through a payroll deduction. On November 9, 2016, while the Program Coordinator was on extended paid leave, two city employees discovered boxes at the Program Coordinator ’s workspace that contained over $15,000 in cash and checks along with donation forms indicating the funds were charitable contributions. The boxes contained checks dating from 2009 to 2014. The Seattle Department of Human Resources then initiated a personnel inve… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1020910&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 18 | 18 | wa-sao | 1020959 | 2016-001 | WA | City of Soap Lake | City/Town | 0325 | 5365345 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Accountability audit — City of Soap Lake | Accountability | 2016 | 2015-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2018-05-17 | internal_controls | The City lacked adequate internal controls to bill utility accounts in accordance with City Code | Background The City operates water and sewer utilities, and collected $889,115 and $894,316 in water and sewer revenues in 2015 and 2016 , respectively. The utilities serve about 1,350 customers, using rates established by Municipal City Code, Chapter 13. The City periodically amends City Code through ordinances, which update annual rates in the Code’s appendix. Ninety customers are classified as either commercial or commercial residen tial, and most have multiple units associated with their accounts. Description of Condition The City’s internal controls did not ensure customers were billed in accordance with City Code. Further, City management did not adequately monitor utility billings to determine City Code was followed. Specifically, the City charged commercial and commercial-residential customers for one unit per sewer services account. However, City Code stipulates that each additional unit under an account should be charged the established base rate. In addition, the City Code section pertaining to water rates and overage charges does not specify whether commercial customers should receive additional base water consumption before incurring overage charges for multi-unit accounts. Cause of Condition City staff incorrectly classified commercial and commercial -residential sewer utility accounts as “single unit” in the billing system and lacked understanding of the City’s rate setting code over the water utility. Effect of Condition Between 2015 and 2016, the City under -billed about $200,000 for sewer utilities across 15 accounts, which is a loss of revenue to the City. The majority of under- billing is because of not charging for additional units by account. Because City Code lacks clarity for multi-unit water utility rates, we are unable to determine the exact amount of over - or under-billing. However, we estimate the City potentially under-billing about $30,000 for the same 15 accounts. Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 7 Recommendation s We recommend the City: … | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1020959&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||||
| 19 | 19 | wa-sao | 1020959 | 2016-002 | WA | City of Soap Lake | City/Town | 0325 | 5365345 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Accountability audit — City of Soap Lake | Accountability | 2016 | 2015-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2018-05-17 | misappropriation | The City lacks proper oversight for the acquisition, sale and tracking of assets in the Police Department | Background The City of Soap Lake serves a population of about 1,550 Grant County citizens. The City Police Department has four full -time employees, including one Police Chief and two officers. In June 2016, our audit r eported the Police Department did not use assets in an authorized and approved manner and recommended the City strengthen controls over acquisition, tracking and sale of assets. However, our current audit identified continued concerns. Description of Cond ition The Police Department is responsible for most functions surrounding the “cash only” sales of Police Department assets, as well as asset acquisition and tracking, which creates an increased risk for potential misuse and misappropriation. These control weaknesses allowed the following to occur: 1. City records indicate that in March 2015, a Reserve Officer paid $700 to the City for a 1999 Chevrolet Blazer police vehicle. One day later, Department of Licensing (DOL) records show he signed a “vehicle release of interest” form transferring ownership to a close relative of the Police Chief at that time. The Reserve Officer said the former Police Chief asked him to act as the original buyer to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. 2. In May 2015, the City acquired a cargo trailer valued at $8,000 through the LESO 1033 military surplus program, which allows law enforcement agencies to acquire military assets for current law enforcement purposes at no cost, except the travel and/or shipping expenses associated with acquisition. Less than a year later, the City traded the trailer to a City Police Officer in exchange for two radar units with a total value of $4,000 according to the sales record. However, the City was unable to demonstrate that the City received the units as part of this particular trad e deal, or that the trade was equitable. Additionally, the buyer listed in the City’s records did not agree to the buyer listed in the DOL sales record. City records showed the buyer as a third party, while DOL rec… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1020959&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||||
| 20 | 20 | wa-sao | 1021046 | 2017-001 | WA | Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority | Housing Authority | 0346 | not_municipal | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-07-01 | 2017-06-30 | 2018-12-24 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 34714.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $34,714 | The Housing Authority did not have adequate internal controls to ensure it met allowable costs/cost principles requirements for its Rural Self-Help Technical Assistance Program. CFDA Number and Title: 10.420 Rural Self-Help Housing Technical Assistance Federal Grantor Name: US Department of Agriculture – Rural Housing Service Federal Award/Contract Number: N/A Pass-through Entity Name: N/A Pass-th | Description of Condition The Housing Authority spent $1,204,013 in Rural Self -Help Technical Assistance funds in fiscal year 2017. The objective of this program is to help low- and very-low- income individuals and their families to build homes in rural areas by the self -help method. The Housing Authority’s program expenditures consist of both direct and indirect costs. The program was reimbursed $514,282 (43 percent of program expenses) for indirect costs. Indirect costs charged are based on an indirect cost allocation plan, including several different allocations of administrative payroll, building, vehicle, equipment and training costs. The Housing Authority did not have adequate internal controls to ensure indirect cost allocations met federal grant requirements for allowable costs. We consider this deficiency in internal controls to be a material weakness. This issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. Washington State Auditor's Office Cause of Condition Although current staff were not involved with the creation of the Authority’s indirect cost allocation plan, staff did not update the plan in accordance with Uniform Guidance. Additionally, Authority management did not adequately monitor and review the plan to ensure it still fit the Housing Authority’s changing circumstances. Effect of Condition and Questioned Costs The Housing Authority’s lack of internal controls resulted in noncompliance with federal allowable cost requirements for indirect costs. We noted the following: The Housing Authority’s Agency -Wide Indirect Overhead cost pool, the largest of the Authority’s indirect cost allocation pools, did not allocate indirect costs equitably to all programs. We identified seven programs that did not have indirect costs from this pool allocated to them. However, indirect costs related to these programs were not removed from the pool, they were simply allocated to other programs. Executive Director salary and benefits were included in the amount allocated, which … | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021046&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 21 | 21 | wa-sao | 1021049 | 2017-001 | WA | Omak School District No 19 | School District | 1976 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Accountability audit — Omak School District No 19 | Accountability | 2017 | 2015-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-04-30 | internal_controls | The District lacked sufficient internal controls over Associated Study Body activities to safeguard against potential loss and noncompliance with laws and regulations | Background Districts may use Associated Study Body (ASB) funds for optional and noncurricular student activities that are cultural, athletic, recreational or social in nature, or in support of ASB activities and programs. Omak School District’s ASB program collected revenue of $188,000 and $205,000 in fiscal years 2016 and 2017, respective ly, and spent $165,000 and $191,000 during those same years. Description of Condition Our examination identified the following conditions: Fundraisers We tested six ASB fundraisers with $18,390 in receipts and found the ASB lacked adequate documentation. The District did not: • Reconcile beginning or ending inventory for sales, or ending receipts to source documents (tickets, merchandise, manual receipts , etc.) to detect or prevent loss of inventory or receipts • Use pre-numbered tickets for a dance event or issue manual receipts when selling merchandise or accepting donations, or for events • Obtain a fundraiser reconciliation and profit analysis in four fundraisers, reducing the District’s ability to detect potential loss • Include projection of revenue, expenditures and profit on the Fundraiser Intent Form • Deposit receipted funds within 24 hours of three events, which does not comply with state law (RCW 43.09.240) or School District Accounting Manual rules for timely deposits • Obtain Superintendent’s approval for fundraisers exceeding $5,000 as required by District policy. Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 7 Cash Receipting The District lacked adequate independent monitoring of ASB receipts and independent review of the ASB imprest/depository account to prevent or detect misappropriation or loss. Disbursements The ASB Council did not routinely approve payments as required by state regulations (WAC 392-138-125). The Council formally approved only $575 of the $356,000 spent during the audit period. Meeting Minutes The District could not provide minutes for 20 meetings of the ASB Council during the audit period. Due to the lack … | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021049&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |||||
| 22 | 22 | wa-sao | 1021104 | 2016-001 | WA | City of Orting | City/Town | 0594 | 5352005 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Accountability audit — City of Orting | Accountability | 2016 | 2014-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2018-05-07 | procurement | material_weakness | The City’s internal controls over procurement were inadequate to ensure compliance with bid law | Background State law requires the City to use formal competitive bidding procedures for purchases of $15,000 or more. This includes advertising the purchases’ specifications in a general circulation periodical, opening the bids at a public forum with a fixed time and place, and awarding the contract to the lowest responsible bidder. In addition, the governing body must approve the winning bid. Description of Condition In 2016, the City purchased three trucks, one backhoe and a trailer totaling $269,637. In 2017, the City purchased a generator and a backhoe totaling $183,398. Each of these purchases exceeded $15,000. Our audit identified the following concerns: • For most of the purchases, the City used a vendor roster to identify potential vendors and then completed an online search to identify the lowest price. The City should have advertised to solicit sealed bids to be opened at a public forum. • A backhoe was purchased through a procurement services vendor that did not advertise to solicit bids, thereby not allowing the opportunity for all potential vendors to submit bids as state law requires. Cause of Condition City management were not aware of the competitive bid requirements for purchases of $15,000 or more. Effect of Condition The City cannot demonstrate it received the lowest price for these purchases or that all vendors were given equal opportunity to bid. Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 6 Recommendation We recommend the City implement adequate internal controls over procurement to ensure compliance with state laws and ensure an open, competitive environment for all purchases. City ’s Response The City erred in its procurement process as outlined by the Auditor in the Accountability Audit. The city staff have since received training on State procurement requirements, passed a Purchasing Policy in January 2018, and put in place a more controlled procurement process that is in conformance with State Law. Auditor’s Remarks We appreciate the timely actions take… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021104&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |||
| 23 | 23 | wa-sao | 1021221 | 2017-001 | WA | Kettle Falls School District No 212 | School District | 2064 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Kettle Falls School District No 212 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-14 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | Kettle Falls School District did not have adequate internal controls over its federal child nutrition program verification requirements . CFDA Number and Title: 10.553 – School Breakfast Program 10.555 – National School Lunch Program Federal Grantor Name: United States Department of Agriculture Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instructi | Background The District participates in the School Breakfast and National School Lunch programs, and received $262,967 from them during fiscal year 2017. Th ese programs provide funding for free and reduced -price meals for low -income students. Families must meet income requirements to be eligible for these programs. Each year, districts must select a sample of applications and verify that family income information reported to the districts is correct. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) instruct s school districts on how to verify program eligibility. Districts must review selected applicants’ income documentation to confirm students are receiving correct benefits of free or reduced-price meals. If the family’s income does not meet requirements, the student is not eligible and must pay full price for meals. OSPI instructions include guidance to districts for determining the number of applications th at must be verified based on their non- Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ response rate from previous years ’ verifications. The verification process must be completed by November 15 each year. The District was required to use a 3 percent focused sampling method, because the District’s nonresponse rate exceeded 20 percent during the 2015-2016 school year’s verification process. This sampling method require d the District to select three “error prone” applications for verification. Error-prone applications are defined as any application where the reported household income falls within $100 a month of the upper income limit for free or reduced-priced meal eligibility. Description of Condition While the District did have a process in place to perform the verification process, internal controls were not effective to ensure the District performed the verification steps accurately. Our audit found that although the District selected the appropriate number … | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021221&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 24 | 24 | wa-sao | 1021228 | 2016-001 | 4362 | WA | Whitman County | County | 0179 | 53075 | geoid_county | Washington State Auditor's Office | Accountability audit — Whitman County | Accountability | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2018-05-17 | internal_controls | The County did not have controls in place to ensure reimbursements to special purpose taxing districts for revolving fund expenditures were approved and supported | Background Whitman County is responsible for the disbursement of over $3.5 mi llion of expenditure activity for 32 special purpose taxing districts including fire, cemetery, parks and recreation, water/sewer, hospital and library districts . Twenty-five of these districts pay their own expenditures from a revolving fund bank account and seek replenishment for the account from the County Auditor’s Office. Description of Condition As part of the 2012, 2014 and 2015 audits, we communicated conce rns that the County’s current practices did not adequately safeguard public funds because it did not ensure there was adequate support for reimbursement of special purpose taxing district expenditures and that warrants paid for districts had been approved by each district’s governing body. During the current audit, we identified no improvement in the County’s monitoring of special purpose taxing district expenditures. The following internal control weaknesses still exist: The County did not have interlocal agreements established with districts as required by state law (RCW 39.34 ) defining responsibilities and expectations for district s that use the revolving fund process. These agreements should communicate the minimum requirements for establishing and operating a revolving fund as prescribed by the Budgeting, Accounting and Reporting System (BARS) Manual (3.8.8.20). The County did not require evidence that the district’s governing body has properly approved a revolving fund, including the maximum authoriz ed balance. Without this documentation, the County cannot ensure that requests for revolving fund replenishment are within the amount authorized by the district’s governing body. The County did not require supporting documentation , such as a listing of approved vouchers paid , for the replenishment of the revolving fund . Supporting documentation is necessary to determine requested replenishments are based on actual claims paid by the district, as prescribed by the BARS Manual (3.8.5.8… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021228&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |||
| 25 | 25 | wa-sao | 1021235 | 2017-001 | WA | Elma School District No 68 | School District | 1887 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Elma School District No 68 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-07 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure compliance with the federal Title I grant requirements for highly qualified paraprofessionals. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 - Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instructio | Description of Condition The federal Title I program’s objective is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting state academic standards and who reside in areas with high concentrations of children from low-income families. During fiscal year 2017, the District spent $359,739 in Title I program funds. Federal regulations require recipients of federal money to establish and follow internal controls to ensure compliance with program requirements. These controls include knowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. To meet the requirements for highly qualified status, all paraprofessionals charged to Title I must have a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent. The District is responsible for ensuring all Title I paraprofessionals meet this requirement. The District did not verify and maintain documentation demonstrating a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent was received. The District relied on the attestation of the applicant s without physically verifying appropriate documentation. Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ We consider this deficiency in internal controls to be a material weakness. This issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. Cause of Condition The District was not aware of the requirement to obtain evidence of a high school diploma or its equivalent to support the federal requirement. Effect of Condition and Questioned Costs Without adequate controls in place, the District cannot ensure costs charged to the grant are allowable. Upon request, the District was able to provide documentation as evidence of a high school diploma for the paraprofessionals selected. Therefore, we are not questioning the paraprofessionals’ salaries charged to the grant. Recommendation We recommend the District establish and follow internal controls to ensure every paraprofessional provid… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021235&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 26 | 26 | wa-sao | 1021258 | 2017-001 | WA | Evergreen School District No 114 | School District | 1841 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Evergreen School District No 114 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-14 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with suspension and debarment requirements for purchases of goods and materials. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 – Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Pass-throu | Description of Condition During fiscal year 2017, the District spent $5,401,583 in Title I grant funds. This program’s objective is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting challenging academic standards and who reside in areas with high concentrations of children from low-income families. The District used these funds to improve teaching and learning at 14 elementary schools. Federal requirements prohibit grant recipients from contracti ng with or making subawards to parties who have been suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. The District must verify that all vendors receiving $25,000 or more in federal awards have not been suspended or debarred. To do this, the District could obtain a written certification from the vendor or insert a clause into the contract where the vendor states it is not suspended or debarred. Alternatively, the District may review the federal Excluded Parties List (EPLS) issued by the U.S. General Services Administration. The District must meet one of these requirements before entering into a contract with the vendor. The District did not have procedures in place when it purchased from three vendors more than $25,000 each for educati onal materials. The District did not obtain a Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ written certification or review EPLS to verify the vendors were not suspended or debarred before awarding the contracts. We consider this internal control deficiency to be a material weakness. This issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. Cause of Condition The District was aware of suspension and debarment requirements but was not aware they applied to the purchase of goods and materials. Effect of Condition and Questioned Costs The District paid three vendors a total of $439,499 in fiscal year 2017 and did not verify that the vendors were not susp… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021258&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 27 | 27 | wa-sao | 1021263 | 2017-001 | WA | Clover Park School District No 400 | School District | 2002 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Clover Park School District No 400 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-10 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure compliance with the federal Title I grant requirements for highly qualified paraprofessionals. CFDA Number and Title 84.010 – Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction | Background The federal Title I program’s objective is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting state academic standards and who reside in areas with high concentrations of children from low -income families. During fiscal year 2017, the District spent $5,284,367 in Title I program funds. Federal regulations require recipients of federal money to establish and follow internal controls to ensure compliance with program requirements. These controls include knowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. To meet the requirements for highly qualified status, all paraprofessionals charged to Title I must have a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent. The District is responsible for ensuring all paraprofessionals it charges to the program meet this requirement. Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Description of Condition The District did not verify and maintain document ation demonstrating that paraprofessionals it charged to the program had received a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent. We consider this deficiency in internal controls to be a material weakness. This issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. Cause of Condition The District relied on employees certifying they acquired the high school diploma or equivalent on their employment application to determine whether the federal requirement was met. Effect of Condition and Questioned Costs Without adequate controls in place, the District cannot ensure costs charged to the grant are allowable. The District charged salary and benefit costs of 70 paraprofessionals to the program in 2017. Our audit found t he District was unable to initially demonstrate that four of the 14 paraprofessionals we tested had received either a high school diploma or its equivalent. We are not questioning costs. The District subsequently verifie… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021263&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 28 | 28 | wa-sao | 1021280 | 2017-001 | WA | Eastmont School District No 206 | School District | 1857 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Eastmont School District No 206 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-07 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to comply with federal suspension and debarment requirements. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 – Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Pass-through Award/Contract Number: 09-206 Questio | Background During fiscal year 2017, the District spent $1,270,741 in Title I grant funds. This program’s objective is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting challenging academic standards and who reside in areas with high concentrations of children from low-income families. The District used these funds to improve teaching and learning at seven school buildings. Federal requirements prohibi t grant recipients from contracting with or making subawards to parties who have been suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. To comply with this requirement, the District must verify that vendors receiving $25,000 or more in federal awards have not been suspended or debarred. This verification may be accomplished by obtaining a written certification from the vendor or inserting a clause in the contract in which the vendor states it is not suspended or debarred. Alternatively, the District may review the federal Excluded Parties List (EPLS) issued by the U.S. General Services Administration. The District must meet one of these requirements before entering into a contract with the vendor. Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Description of Condition The District has a process in place, but it was not effective to ensure compliance. The District did not obtain a written certification or review EPLS to verify two vendors it paid $61,849 were not suspended or debarred before awarding the contracts. We consider this internal control deficiency to be a material weakness. This issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. Cause of Condition The District does not typically use Title I funds to pay vendors for goods or services over $25,000. Therefore, the District’s standard process was not followed. Effect of Condition and Questioned Costs Any payments of program funds to a vendor that has been suspended or debarr… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021280&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 29 | 29 | wa-sao | 1021280 | 2017-002 | WA | Eastmont School District No 206 | School District | 1857 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Eastmont School District No 206 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-07 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to comply with graduation rate reporting requirements. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 – Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Pass-through Award/Contract Number: 09-206 Questioned Cos | Background During fiscal year 2017, the District spent $1,270,741 in Title I grant funds. This program’s objective is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting challenging academic standards and who reside in areas with high concentrations of children from low-income families. The District used these funds to improve teaching and learning at seven school buildings. Federal regulations require recipients of federal funds to establish and follow internal controls to comply with program requirements. These controls include knowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. Districts must report graduation rate data for all public high schools to the Offic e of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) annually. This is done by submitting a Graduation Rate Report that indicates the student’s enrollment status as graduated, transferred out, dropped out, migrated to another country or deceased. The District must retain adequate support for how it classifies a student’s enrollment status. To confirm a student transferred out, the District must have official written documentation that the student enrolled in another school or in an educational program that culminates in the award of a regular high school diploma. Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Description of Condition Our audit examined the District’s documentation for students it classified as “transferred out.” The District’s controls were not adequate to ensure it gathered the required documents to support its classification of students that left the District to be homeschooled. Specifically, the District did not obtain annual I ntent to Provide Home-Based Education forms (homeschool forms) for each of these students. Without these forms, the District cannot report the students as a confirmed transfer. We consider this internal control deficiency to be a material w… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021280&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 30 | 30 | wa-sao | 1021283 | 2017-001 | WA | Bridgeport School District No 75 | School District | 1855 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Accountability audit — Bridgeport School District No 75 | Accountability | 2017 | 2015-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-24 | internal_controls | The District’s internal controls over Associated Study Body activities were insufficient to safeguard against potential loss and noncompliance with laws and regulations | Background Districts may use Associated Student Body (ASB) funds for optional and noncurricular student activities that are cultural, athletic, recreational or social in nature, or that otherwise support ASB activities and programs. Bridgeport School District’s (District) ASB program collected revenue of $153,930 and $140,638 during fiscal years 2016 and 2017, respectively. Description of Condition Our examination identified the following conditions: Fundraisers and events: For each event or fundraiser, the ASB should retain source documentation of activity such as tickets sold, change in inventory, or manual receipts issued to reconcile against actual monies collected. Without this reconciliation, the ASB might not be able to detect potential losses of inventory of funds in a timely manner. We tested 16 ASB fundraisers and nine gated events, and found the District lacked adequate independent monitoring of ASB receipts. Further, documentation was either inadequate or missing. Specifically, the ASB did not: Complete the final reconciliations of cas h receipts to activity, such as receipts, tickets sold, or change in inventory, on a timely basis for six fundraisers. Concession fundraiser activities occurring in September and October were not reconciled until June. Print sales reports from the point-of-sales system after each of the nine gated events tested. As a result, activity from multiple events or for the entire month was included on the same report, limiting the District’s ability to reconcile actual funds deposited to expected revenues. Retain documentation of p rom tickets sold before the event to either the District’s own students or other participating districts. As such, the ASB could not compare actual funds deposited to expected revenues. Approve five fundraisers before the event began. Additionally, ASB Council minutes did not reflect approval for four events. Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 7 Perform a final profit analysis for five fundraisers. Th… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021283&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |||||
| 31 | 31 | wa-sao | 1021289 | fraud-investigation | 4349 | WA | Franklin County | County | 0115 | 53021 | geoid_county | Washington State Auditor's Office | Fraud investigation — Franklin County | Fraud | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2018-04-30 | misappropriation | fraud_investigation | 11062.0 | misappropriat ed $11,062 | Investigation Summary On October 25, 2017, the County Clerk notified our Office, as r equired by state law, regarding a potential loss of public funds in the Superior Court Clerk’s Office. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office investigated. We reviewed the Sheriff’s Office investigation, performed an | Investigation Summary On October 25, 2017, the County Clerk notified our Office, as r equired by state law, regarding a potential loss of public funds in the Superior Court Clerk’s Office. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office investigated. We reviewed the Sheriff’s Office investigation, performed an expanded review and determined a cash receipting m isappropriation totaling $11,062 occurred at the Superior Court Clerk’s Office between J anuary 2017 and July 2017. Our investigation also revealed control weaknesses in the County Treasurer’s Office. We will refer this report to the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Background and Inv estigation Results Franklin County operates on an average annual budget of about $ 40 million, including about $900,000 in revenues from the Superior Court Clerk’s Office. The Clerk’s Office has 14 full-time positions and one part-time position. The loss was detected on Octobe r 13, 2017, while the Legal Fina ncial Officer was checking customer voicemails on the Financial Manager’s office phone because she was out on unexpected leave. A customer left a message, questioning why the County had not yet cashed a check mailed in July 2017. While researching for an explanation, the Legal Financial Officer identified an entire day’s deposit from July 18, 2017 – $6,614 in cash and $2,246 in checks – never made it to the bank. We reviewed the investigation performed by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies compared daily cash receipting hard copy files to bank statemen ts from January 2016 through December 2017. Deputies also reviewed the County Treasurer’s Office deposit logs to identify the person who took the deposit to the Treasurer’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office confirmed the July 18, 2017 deposit was missing and identified an additional deposit missing dated January 18, 2017. The January deposit consisted of $1,387 in cash and $815 in checks. Our investigation focused on cash receipting procedures includi ng electronic accounting system adjust… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021289&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 |
| 32 | 32 | wa-sao | 1021290 | 2017-001 | WA | Selah School District No 119 | School District | 2109 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Selah School District No 119 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-07 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with federal Title I graduation rate reporting requirements. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Pass-through Award/Contract Number: | Background The objective of the Title I program is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting state academic standards and who reside in areas with high concentrations of low-income families. During fiscal year 2017, the District spent $876,847 in Title I program funds. Federal regulations require recipients of federal money to establish and follow internal controls to ensure compliance with program requirements. These controls include knowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. Districts must report graduation rate data for all of their public high schools to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) annually. This is done by submitting a Graduation Rate Report that indicates the student’s enrollment status: graduated, transferred out, dropped out, migrated to another country or deceased. The Distri ct must retain adequate support for changes to a student’s status. To confirm a student transferred out, the District must have official written documentation that the student enrolled in another s chool or in an educational program that culminates in the award of a regular high school diploma. Washington State Auditor's Office Description of Condition We found the District did not adequately design or follow controls to ensure compliance with the Title I graduation reporting requirements. Specifically, the District did not h ave official w ritten documentation to support the students it reported as having transferred out of its high school and its alternative school. We consider this control deficiency to be a material weakness. This issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. Cause of Condition High school staff did not follow District protocol to ensure documentation was acquired for students transferrin g out of the District. Also, staff members at the alternative school were not aware of the requirement to obtain and retain documentation for students transferring from a treatment facility t… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021290&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 33 | 33 | wa-sao | 1021296 | fraud-investigation | WA | City of Rock Island | City/Town | 0280 | 5359180 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Fraud investigation — City of Rock Island | Fraud | 2016 | 2015-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2018-05-08 | misappropriation | fraud_investigation | 37056.0 | misappropriation totaling $37,056 | Investigation Summary On November 28, 2016, the Mayor of the City of Rock Island notified our Office regarding a potential loss of public funds as state law requires. We investigated and determined a cash receipting misappropriation totaling $37,056 occurred at the City between November 2015 and Oct | Investigation Summary On November 28, 2016, the Mayor of the City of Rock Island notified our Office regarding a potential loss of public funds as state law requires. We investigated and determined a cash receipting misappropriation totaling $37,056 occurred at the City between November 2015 and October 2016. The misappropriated funds were all cash payments that were receipted, but not deposited. In addition to the cash receipting misappropriation, we also identified questionabl e transactions totaling $1,071 and a $225 deleted receipt that was unsupported. The City did not file a report wi th the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office . Our Office notified the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, and we will send this report to the Douglas County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Background and Investigation Results The City, located in Douglas County, receives annual revenues of about $1 million. The City’s revenue comes from multiple sources but primarily utility sales. Other sources of revenue include lease payments, fees from building permits and licenses. The City has three full -time and two part-time employees. The Clerk/Treasurer is responsib le for overseeing the daily financial operations of the City with the support of a Deputy Clerk. The Clerk/Treasurer reconciles the electronic accounting system to the bank records, while the Deputy Clerk handles most of the cash receipting duties and recording those payments in the accounting system. Our investigation focused on cash receipting. City staff issue receipts for payments made at City Hall. Staff members then record and reconcile receipts in the City’s accounting system. Our investigation focused on the following activities: Cash receipts from January 2015 to November 2016 We compared receipts recorded in the electronic accounting system to amounts deposited at the bank and identified a total of $37,056 in cash transactions that were entered i nto the accounting system but not deposited into the bank account. The investigation revealed the fo… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021296&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |
| 34 | 34 | wa-sao | 1021301 | 2017-001 | WA | Cheney School District No 360 | School District | 2048 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Cheney School District No 360 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-21 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 66511.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $66,511 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with the federal Title I grant requirements for highly qualified paraprofessionals. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 – Title I Grants to Local Education Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Pa | Background The objective of the Title I program is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting state academic standards and who reside in areas with high concentrations of children from low -income families. During fiscal year 2017, the District spent $1,033,467 in Title I program funds. Federal regulations require federal money recipients to establish and follow internal controls to ensure compliance with program requirements. These controls include knowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. To meet requirements for “highly qualified” classification, a paraprofessional must have a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent and have met one of the following requirements: Completed at least two years of study at an institution of higher education Obtained an associate’s or higher college degree Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Met a rigorous standard of quality and can demonstrate, through a formal state or local academic assessment, knowledge of and the ability to assist in instructing, reading, writing and mathematics, or reading readiness, writing readiness and mathematics readiness Description of Condition We reviewed the District’s internal controls over highly qualified status requirements to determine whether paraprofessionals charged to the Title I grant met the requirements for that status. Our audit found that the District did not obtain and maintain documentation demonstrating evidence that all paraprofessionals charged to the Title I program met the requirements for highly qualified status. We consider this deficiency in internal controls to be a material weakness. This issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. Cause of Condition The District did not have a process in place to obtain a high school diploma or equivalent from its paraprofessionals when they were hired… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021301&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 35 | 35 | wa-sao | 1021303 | 2017-001 | WA | Mason County Fire Protection District No 18 | Fire Protection District | 0300 | not_municipal | Washington State Auditor's Office | Accountability audit — Mason County Fire Protection District No 18 | Accountability | 2017 | 2016-01-01 | 2017-12-31 | 2018-05-21 | misappropriation | The District did not have adequate internal controls over cash receipting and petty cash to ensure adequate safeguarding of public resources | Background Mason County Fire Protection District No. 18 is located in Mason County and serves the Lake Cushman area. The District’s total revenue was about $362,000 and $211,000 in 2016 and 2017, respectively. District management is responsible for establishing effective internal controls to ensure compliance with state law and adequate safeguarding of public funds. Description of Condition The District’s internal control systems were inadequate to ensure compliance with state laws and safeguarding of public resources. Our current audi t identified the following control deficiencies: Cash receipting The District receives an average of $14,000 a year in revenue other than taxes. The District did not record or have records of funds receipted, and did not have a reconciliation function to ensure receipted funds were adequately safeguarded from loss or misappropriation. In addition, the District lacked adequate controls to ensure funds were deposited promptly in accordance with state law (RCW 43.09.240). Because there were not adequate controls or any records of cash receipted, we were not able to test cash receipting. There is a continued risk of loss or misappropriation for cash receipting. Petty cash The District had a petty cash fund of $1,000 and total replenishments to the fund of about $3,000 in 2016 and 2017. The District identified a loss of $666 in petty cash funds. We tested 42 petty cash expenditures and six monthly reimbursements for those expenses from 2016 and 2017. We noted the following: Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 7 • Three of the six monthly reimbursement amounts did not tie to supporting receipts. We identified a total of $1,127 in petty cash expenditures that were unsupported or questionable. • 17 petty cash expenses, totaling $346, were used by or reimbursed to the petty cash custodian without a secondary review or approval. • 14 petty cash expenses, totaling $424, were not allowable because the District had not determined in its policy that they were… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021303&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |||||
| 36 | 36 | wa-sao | 1021303 | 2017-002 | WA | Mason County Fire Protection District No 18 | Fire Protection District | 0300 | not_municipal | Washington State Auditor's Office | Accountability audit — Mason County Fire Protection District No 18 | Accountability | 2017 | 2016-01-01 | 2017-12-31 | 2018-05-21 | internal_controls | The District did not have adequate controls over payroll and disbursements to ensure expenditures were adequately supported and for District business | Background Mason County Fire Protection District No. 18 is located in Mason County and serves the Lake Cushman area. The District’s operating expenditures totaled about $225,000 and $250,000 in 2016 and 2017, respectively. District management is responsible for establishing effective internal controls to ensure public funds are adequately safeguarded. Description of Condition We identified the following deficiencies in internal controls: Payroll • There was not a detailed review of payments to volunteers and commissioners by someone independent of the payroll process to ensure payments were correctly calculated and adequately supported. Disbursements and credit cards • There was not a detailed review of warrants or credit card transactions by someone independent of t he disbursement process to ensure accuracy and compliance with District policy. • The District did not have a process in place to ensure adequate support was retained for all purchases and warrants paid. Cause of Condition The District staff responsible for payroll and disbursements lacked adequate training and resources to establish adequate internal controls. In addition, District management did not dedicate sufficient resources or monitoring to ensure effective internal controls were established and consistently applied. Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 10 Effect of Condition Payroll The District primarily consists of volunteer firefighters who are paid, based on points earned, on a quarterly basis. In addition, Commissioners are compensated $114 for each meeting, once a month. We tested payments to volunteers and noted the District did not have records to support the four quarterly volunteer payments in 2016. We also tested eight months, or 57 meetings, for Commissioners and noted the District: • Did not have meeting activity logs for four months • Did not have adequate support for six of the meetings to verify they were for legitimate District business We also noted that Commissioners who also serv… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021303&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |||||
| 37 | 37 | wa-sao | 1021321 | 2017-001 | WA | Aberdeen School District No 5 | School District | 1882 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Aberdeen School District No 5 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-17 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with the federal Special Education Cluster grant requirements for procurement. CFDA Number and Title: 84.027 – Special Education–Grants to States (IDEA, Part B) 84.173 – Special Education– Preschool Grants (IDEA Preschool) Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entit | Background The District participates in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s Special Education program. The District received $826,202 from the program during fiscal year 2017. Federal regulations require recipients of federal money to establish and follow internal controls to ensure compliance with program requirements. These controls include knowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. The District must ensure it follows the most restrictive procurement requirements when procuring goods and s ervices. The District procured professional special education services from two contractors at costs of $276,264 and $216,458, respectively. Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Description of Condition The District did not maintain support to show it followed the most restrictive procurement requirements in awarding either of the two contracts for professional special education services. We consider this deficiency in internal controls to be a material weakness. This issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. Cause of Conditio n The District experienced employee turnover at the procurement position and was unable to find the documentation to show it followed the appropriate procurement method. Effect of Condition and Questioned Costs The District was unable to show it complied w ith federal procurement requirements. The District cannot demonstrate it received the best price for the goods it purchased if supporting documentation is not maintained. We did not question costs because the funds were used for an allowable purpose. Reco mmendation s We recommend the District ensures it follows its policies in applying the most restrictive procurement method when procuring goods and services with federal grant funds. We further recommend it improve internal controls to ensure it maintains documentation supporting its compliance. D… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021321&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 38 | 38 | wa-sao | 1021321 | 2017-002 | WA | Aberdeen School District No 5 | School District | 1882 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Aberdeen School District No 5 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-17 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with the federal Title I grant requirements for the annual report card, high school graduation rate. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 – Title 1 Grants to Local Educational Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Ed | Background The objective of the Title I program is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting state academic standards and who reside in areas with high concentrations of children from low-income families. During fiscal year 2017, the District spent $1,246,878 in Title I program funds. Districts must report graduation rate data for all public high schools to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) annually. This is done by submitting a Graduation Rate Report that indicates the student’s enrollment status as graduated, transferred out, dropped out, migrated to another country or deceased. The district must retain adequate support for how it classifies a student’s enrollment status. To confirm a student transferred out, the district must have official written documentation that the student enrolled in another school or in an educational program that culminates in the award of a regular high school diploma. Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Description of Condition Our audit examined the District’s documentation for students it classified as “transferred out.” The District’s controls were not adequate to ensure it gathered the required documents to support its classification of students that left the District. Specifically, the District did not obtain annual I ntent to Provide Home-Based Education forms (homeschool forms) for each student who left the District to be homeschooled. It also did not obtain written documentation confirming students who transferred to another district actually enrolled in the new district. Without these documents, the District cannot report the students as a confirmed transfer. We consider these control deficiencies to be material weaknesses. This issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. Cause of Condition District staff were not aware of the documentation necessary to d… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021321&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 39 | 39 | wa-sao | 1021323 | 2017-001 | WA | Puyallup School District No 3 | School District | 1994 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Puyallup School District No 3 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2015-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-31 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure it complied with Title I grant requirements for highly qualified paraprofessionals. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 – Title I Grants to States Educational Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Pass-throu | Background The federal Title I program’s objective is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting state academic standards and who reside in areas with a high concentration of low-income families. During fiscal year 2017, the District spent $2,538,387 in Title I program funds. Federal regulations require federal money recipients to establish and follow internal controls to ensure compliance with program requirements. These controls include knowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. Each paraprofessional the District charges to the Title I program must have obtained either a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent . The District must verify that all paraprofessionals it charges to the program have met this requirement. Description of Condition The District ’s procedures for verifying paraprofessionals it hired met the qualification requirements during the period of the audit were not effective in ensuring compliance. The District relied on each applicant’s certification that he Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ or she obtained a high school diploma or its equivalent, without always physically verifying and documenting that they did. We consider this internal control deficiency to be a material weakness. This issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. Cause of Condition The District relied on paraprofessionals’ certification that they acquired a high school diploma or equivalent on their employment application to demonstrate the federal requirement was met, without always performing further verification and documenting it. Effect of Condition and Questioned Costs Without adequate internal controls in place , such as (maintaining evidence the District verified the paraprofessional had obtained a high school diploma or equivalent, the District cannot demonstrate paraprofessionals met th… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021323&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 40 | 40 | wa-sao | 1021330 | 2017-001 | WA | Shelton School District No 309 | School District | 1970 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Shelton School District No 309 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-17 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District lacked adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with requirements regarding suspension and debarment and graduation rate reporting for the Title I grant program. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010, Title I Grants to Local Agencies Federal Grantor Name: United States Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: Not applicable Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintende | Background The objective of the Title I program is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting state academic standards and who reside in areas with high concentrations of low-income families. During fiscal year 2017, the District spent $1,178,952 in Title I program funds. Federal regulations require federal -money recipients to establish and follow internal controls to ensure compliance with program requirements. These controls include knowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. Suspension and debarment Federal requirements prohibit grant recipients from contracting with or making sub-awards to parties suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. The District must verify that all contractors receiving $25,000 or more and all sub-awards have not been suspended or debarred. This verification may be accomplished by collecting a written certification from the party, or adding a clause Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ or condition into the contract. Alternatively, the District may review the federal Excluded Parties List issued by the U.S. General Service Administration. The District must meet one of these requirements before entering into contracts with contractors or sub-recipients. Graduation rate reporting Districts must report graduation -rate data for all public high schools to OSPI annually. Among other purposes, this information is u sed to determine if the District has met adequate yearly progress requirements for Title I funding. The District reports this information in a Graduation Rate Report that indicates the student’s enrollment status: graduated, transferred out, dropped out, m igrated to another country or deceased. The District must retain adequate support for each student’s reported status and for changes to a student’s status. Students identified on the report as t… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021330&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 41 | 41 | wa-sao | 1021339 | 2017-001 | WA | Deer Park School District No 414 | School District | 2052 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Deer Park School District No 414 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-17 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with federal time -and-effort and procurement requirements. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Pass-through Award/Contrac | Background The District participates in the Title I program, which provides financial assistance to schools to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting challenging academic standards and who reside in areas with high concentrations of children from low -income families. During school year 2016-2017, the District spent $701,988 in Title I funds for this program. Federal regulations require federal money recipients to establish and follow internal controls to ensure compliance with program requirements. These controls include knowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. Time and effort We audited the District’s internal controls over payroll to determine whether salaries and benefits charged to the grant were a dequately supported by time-and-effort documentation as required by federal regulations. Depending on the number and types of activities program employees worked, time -and-effort documentation can be a semi -annual certification or monthly personal activity reports, such as a timesheet. Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Procurement Grantees must use a competitive process to procure goods and services to ensure they received the best price from the lowest responsible bidder. Grantees must apply the more restrictive of federal requirements or State law by obtaining quotes or following a competitive bidding process, depending on the purchase amount. State law is more restrictive than the federal requirements for purchases exceeding $75,000, requiring the District to obtain formal bids. Federal requirements are more restrictive than state law for purchases less than $75,000. The District must obtain at least three quote s for purchases greater than $3,500 but less than $75,000, but need not apply a competitive process for “micro” purchases of $3,500 or less. Description of Condition Time and effort … | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021339&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 42 | 42 | wa-sao | 1021358 | 2016-001 | 287 | WA | City of Sunnyside | City/Town | 0846 | 5368750 | geoid_place | Washington State Auditor's Office | Accountability audit — City of Sunnyside | Accountability | 2016 | 2016-01-01 | 2016-12-31 | 2018-05-21 | internal_controls | The City did not have adequate oversight of payroll operations to safeguard public resources | Background The City paid about $10.7 million in payroll during 2016. During three prior audits dating back to 2011, we have recommended the City Council and management strengthen internal controls over payroll. The current audit identified continuing control weaknesses in this area. Description of Condition The City uses a system to run payroll and issue payroll checks that is separate from its general ledger and financial reporting system. The payroll system data is uploaded to its general ledger after payroll checks are processed. However, after the payroll is upload ed, subsequent payments to vendors for employee benefits – such as retirement, unemployment and deferred compensation – are made through an online system. We noted the following payroll related control deficiencies that continue to hinder the City’s ability to properly report payroll expenditures in the general ledger: In 2015, o ne City employee was responsible for human resources and payroll functions without oversight or monitoring. In 2016, the City hired a separate employee to process employee payro ll, independent from human resources functions. However, human resources was still responsible for processing employee benefit payments, which included calculating, reporting and remitting these payments. No one reviewed this information to ensure it was submitted or recorded correctly. An independent review of payments to benefit vendors was not performed before the payments were issued to ensure the transactions were valid, supported and properly recorded in the general ledger. Although the City performed a reconciliation between the bank statement activity and the general ledger, differences identified during the reconciliation were not adequately followed up on. Differences related to payroll transactions were recorded in a temporary clearing account and sent to the Human Resources Assistant for follow-up; however, the City did not always identify the reason for the differences to accurately record the transa… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021358&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |||
| 43 | 43 | wa-sao | 1021376 | 2017-001 | WA | Mead School District No 354 | School District | 2045 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Mead School District No 354 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-21 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 57382.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $57,382 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with the federal Title I grant requirements for qualifications of paraprofessionals. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 – Title I Grants to Local Education Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Pass-thr | Background The Title I program’s objective is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting state academic standards and who reside in areas with high concentrations of children from low -income families. During fiscal year 2017, the District spent $953,732 in Title I program funds. Federal regulations require federal money recipients to establish and follow internal controls to ensure compliance with program requirements. These controls include knowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. All paraprofessionals funded by Title I must have a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent and meet one of the following requirements: Have completed at least two years of study at an institution of higher education Have obtained an associate’s or higher college degree Have met a rigorous standard of quality and can demonstrate, through a formal state or local academic assessment, knowledge of and the ability to Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ assist in instructing, reading, writing and mathematics, or reading readiness, writing readiness and mathematics readiness. The District is responsible for ensuring all paraprofessionals it charges to the Title I program have met the qualification requirements. The District must maintain documentation to support the paraprofess ionals’ qualifications at the school-building or District level. Description of Condition We reviewed the District’s internal controls over the qualifications of paraprofessionals requirement to determine whether paraprofessionals charged to the Title I grant were qualified. Our audit found that the District ’s procedures did not include verifying and maintaining documentation demonstrating the paraprofessionals met all the requirements. We consider this deficiency in internal controls to be a material weakness. This issue was not reported as… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021376&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 44 | 44 | wa-sao | 1021378 | 2017-001 | WA | Nine Mile Falls School District No 325/179 | School District | 2043 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Nine Mile Falls School District No 325/179 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-21 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with verification requirements. CFDA Number and Title: 10.553 School Breakfast Program 10.555 National School Lunch Program Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Agriculture Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Pass-through Award/Contract Number: NA Que | Background The District participates in the School Breakfast and National School Lunch programs, and received $228,873 for them during fiscal year 2017. These programs provide funding for free and reduced-price meals for low-income students. Families must meet income guidelines to be eligible for these programs. Each year, districts must select a sample of applications and verify that family income information reported to the District is correct. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) instructs school districts on how to verify program eligibility, including the number of applications that must be verified based on their nonresponse rates from the previous school year’s verifications. The verification process must be completed by November 15 of each year. The District was required to use a 3 percent focused sampling method, because the District’s nonresponse rate exceeded 20 percent during the 2015-2016 school year’s verification process. This sampling method require d the District to select three “error prone” applications for verification. An error-prone application is defined as one where the reported monthly household income falls within $100 of the upper income limit for free or reduced-priced meal eligibility. Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Districts must verify income support for the time period from the month before it received the application through the month it verifies the income reported on the application. If the verification process results in a reduction or termination of meal benefits, the District must send a letter of adverse a ction to notify the family at least 10 days before the change takes effect. Also, the District must change the benefit status immediately after this 10-day advance notice period. Description of Condition Although the District did have a process in place t o perform the verification process, internal co… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021378&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 45 | 45 | wa-sao | 1021378 | 2017-002 | WA | Nine Mile Falls School District No 325/179 | School District | 2043 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Nine Mile Falls School District No 325/179 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-21 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District’s internal controls were not adequate to ensure compliance with Title I grant requirements for graduation rate reporting. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 – Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction Pass-through Award/Contrac | Background During fiscal year 2017, the District spent $308,385 in Title I grant funds. The Title I program’s objective is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting challenging academic standards and who reside in areas with high concentrations of children from low-income families. Federal regulations require federal-money recipients to establish and follow internal controls to comply with program requirements. These controls include knowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. Districts must report graduation rate data for all public high schools to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) annually. This is done by submitting a Graduation Rate Report that indicates the student’s enrollment status: graduated, transferred out, dropped out, migrated to another country or deceased. The District must retain adequate support for changes to a student’s status. To confirm a student has transferred out, the District must have official written docum entation that the student enrolled in another school or in an educational program that culminates in the award of a regular high school diploma. Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Description of Condition Our audit examined the District’s documentation for students it classified as “transferred out.” The District’s controls were not adequate to ensure it gathered the required documents to support its classification of a student who left the District to be homeschooled and several foreign exchange students who left the District to return to their home country. Specifically, the District did not obtain annual I ntent to Provide Home-Based Education forms (homeschool forms) for the homeschooled student, and did not retain the exchange -student applications for its exchange students. Without these forms, the District cannot report the students as confirmed t… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021378&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 46 | 46 | wa-sao | 1021379 | 2017-001 | WA | Mary Walker School District No 207 | School District | 2063 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Mary Walker School District No 207 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-21 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with requirements regarding procurement, and suspension and debarment. CFDA Number and Title: 10.553 School Breakfast Program 10.555 National school Lunch Program 10.559 Summer Food Service Program Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Agriculture Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Super | Background The District participates in the School Breakfast, National School Lunch, and Summer Food Service programs, and received $248,011 from the programs in fiscal year 2017. These programs help fund free and reduced -price meals for low-income students. Families must meet income requirements to be eligible for these programs. Procurement Federal grant recipients must follow the more restrictive of federal, state or local procurement requirements when purchasing food, equipment, supplies and services with federal funds. The District’s policy requires quotes from three or more qualified sources for purchases be tween $3,500 and $75,000, which is compliant with state law and federal regulations. Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Suspension and debarment Federal requirements prohibit grant recipients from contracting with or making subawards to parties who have been suspended or debarred from doing business with the federal government. The District must verify that all vendors receiving $25,000 or more have not been suspended or debarred. This verification may be accomplished by obtaining a written certification from the vendor, or inserting a clause in the contract in which the vendor states it is not suspended or debarred. Alternatively, the District may review the federal Excluded Parties List (EPLS) issued by the U.S. General Services Administration. The District must meet one of these requirements before entering into a contract with the vendor. Description of Condition Procurement Although t he Distri ct has policies and procedures in place over procurement, these were not effective in ensuring the District complied with applicable procurement requirements. The District did not ensure it received quotes for all purchases between $3,500 and $75,000. We consider this internal control deficiency to be a material weakness. This issue was not reported as a fin… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021379&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 47 | 47 | wa-sao | 1021380 | 2017-001 | WA | Newport Consolidated Joint School District No 56-415 | School District | 1990 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Newport Consolidated Joint School District No 56-415 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-21 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure it complied with verification requirements. CFDA Number and Title: 10.553 School Breakfast Program 10.555 National School Lunch Program 10.559 Summer Food Service Program Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Agriculture Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Pass-t | Background The District participa tes in the School Breakfast, National School Lunch and Summer Food Service programs, and received $455,699 from them during the 2016-17 school year. These programs provide funding for free and reduced -price meals for low-income students. Families must meet income guidelines to be eligible for these programs. Each year, districts must select a sample of program applications and verify that family income information re ported is correct. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) instructs school districts on ho w to verify program eligibility. Districts must review selected applicants’ income documentation to confirm students are receiving correct benefits of free or reduced-price meals. If the family’s income does not meet requirements, the student is not eligible and must pay full price for meals. OSPI instructions to districts include guidance for determining the number of applications that must be verif ied based on their non-response rate from previous years’ verifications. The verification process must Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ be completed by November 15 each year. In addition, the verification summary report is to be submitted to OSPI by February 1. The District needed to use a 3 percent focused sampling method, because the District’s nonresponse rate exceeded 20 percent during the 2015-2016 school year’s verification process. This sampling method require d the District to select three “error prone” applications for verification. An error-prone application is defined as one in which the reported monthly household income falls within $100 of the upper income limit for free or reduced-priced meal eligibility. Description of Condition Although the District had a process in place to perform the verification process, internal controls were not effective to ensure the District performed the verification ste… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021380&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 48 | 48 | wa-sao | 1021386 | 2017-001 | WA | Manson School District No 19 | School District | 1822 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Accountability audit — Manson School District No 19 | Accountability | 2017 | 2014-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-24 | misappropriation | The District’s internal controls over Associated Student Body activities were insufficient to safeguard against potential loss and noncompliance with laws and regulations | Background Districts may use Associated Student Body (ASB) funds for optional and noncurricular student activities that are cultural, athletic, recreational or social in nature, or that otherwise support ASB activities and programs. Manson School District’s ASB program collected revenue of about $68,000, $79,000 and $104,000 during fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively. Description of Condition Our examination identified the following conditions: Fundraisers and events For each event or fundraiser, the ASB should retain source documentation of activity such as beginning and ending number of tickets sold, inventory change, or manual receipts issued to reconcile against actual funds collected. Without this reconciliation, the ASB might not be able to detect potential losses of inventory or funds promptly. Our examination found the District did not document ASB Fundraiser Activity for all three fiscal years under audit. Therefore, the District cannot determine whether it received all money owed to it, and ultimately whether a loss or misappropriation occurred. In addition, the ASB Council meeting minutes contained insufficient detail and did not clearly state approvals of activities and events. Student Store The District could not demonstrate whether it reconciled inventory counts to sales for any of the four days we tested at the store. ASB Council meeting minutes For the three years under audit, the high school ASB Council met on a weekly basis and the middle school Council met on a bi-weekly basis. However, the District was able to provide documented minutes for only 15 meetings. In addition, the minutes Washington State Auditor’s Office Page 7 on file were not complete, lacking approval and support for purchases and fundraisers. Negative club balances Fourteen of 72 clubs in fiscal year 2015, five of 73 clubs in fiscal year 2016, and 13 of 67 clubs in fiscal year 2017 ended the year with negative balances at the club level, which does not comply with state regulations… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021386&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | |||||
| 49 | 49 | wa-sao | 1021387 | 2017-001 | WA | Quincy School District No 144 | School District | 1873 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Quincy School District No 144 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-24 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with federal verification requirements. CFDA Number and Title: 10.553 School Breakfast Program 10.555 National School Lunch Program 10.559 Summer Food Service Program for Children Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Pass-through Award/Contrac | Background The District participates in the School Breakfast, National School Lunch and Summer Food Service programs , which provide free and reduced -price meals for students from low -income families. It received $1,423,221 from these programs during the 2016 -2017 school year. Families must meet income guidelines to be eligible for these programs. Each year, districts must select a sample of applicants and verify that the family income information reported to the district is correct. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) ins tructs school districts on how to verify program eligibility. Districts must review selected applicants’ income documentation and confirm students are receiving correct benefits of free or reduced -price meals. Otherwise, the student is not eligible and must pay for meals at full price. Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Description of Condition The District did not retain supporting documentation to demonstrate it performed the required verification process. Therefore, we were not able to determine if the District complied with this requirement. We consider this internal control deficiency to be a material weakness. This issue was reported as a finding in the prior audit as finding 2016-001. Cause of Condition Our prior audit reported non-compliance with verification requirements; however, the audit occurred after the verification deadline for the 2016-17 school year. As a result, the District was unable to implement audit recommendations before it completed the 2016 -2017 verification process. The cause of the prior audit issue was that the District assigned inexperienced staff to the program and did not provide adequate oversight. Effect of Condition and Questioned Costs A lack of proper internal controls over the verification process increases the risk that free or reduced-price meals could be provided to children who … | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021387&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 | ||
| 50 | 50 | wa-sao | 1021391 | 2017-001 | WA | Kiona-Benton City School District No 52 | School District | 1818 | no_match | Washington State Auditor's Office | Financial and Federal audit — Kiona-Benton City School District No 52 | Financial and Federal | 2017 | 2016-09-01 | 2017-08-31 | 2018-05-31 | federal_award_compliance | material_weakness | 0.0 | Questioned Cost Amount: $0 | The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with the federal Title I grant requi rements for Assessment System Security. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 – Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Pass-th | Background The federal Title I program’s objective is to improve the teaching and learning of children who are at risk of not meeting state academic standards and who reside in areas with high concentrations of children from low-income families. During fiscal year 2017, the District spent $537,021 in Title I program funds. Federal regulations require recipients of federal money to establish and follow internal controls to ensure compliance with program requirements. These controls include knowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. State tests are based on the K-12 learning standards. Students are tested in English language arts, math and science. Assessments measure students’ learning, including the critical -thinking and problem -solving aspect s of the new standards. Results from these tests not only will allow accountability for schools and districts, but also will allow states to be compared to each other in a fair system. OSPI updates assurance forms and training logs yearly to ensure school districts are following the prescribed requirements and have an understanding of any new requirements that should be followed when giving assessments to students. Washington State Auditor's Office Districts must establish and maintain an assessment system that is valid, reliable and consistent with relevant professional and technical standards. Within their assessment system s, states must have policies and procedures to maintain test security and ensure that districts implement those policies and procedures. Description of Condition The District could not show it obtained the most recent version of OSPI’s Security Test Assurance forms. In addition, the District did not retain records of teacher attendance at required trainings or that it followed required security procedures before, during and following assessment testing of students for any of the District’s schools. We consider this internal control deficiency to be a material weakness. This issue was not rep… | https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021391&isFinding=false&sp=false | 2026-07-30 13:24:54 |
Advanced export
JSON shape: default, array, newline-delimited
CREATE TABLE "audit_findings" ("source", "report_number", "finding_number", "muni_id", "state", "entity_name", "entity_type", "entity_ext_id", "place_geoid", "match_method", "auditor", "report_title", "audit_type", "fiscal_year", "period_start", "period_end", "published_date", "finding_category", "severity", "questioned_cost", "cost_basis", "finding_title", "finding_text", "report_url", "fetched_at");