audit_findings: 23

This data as json

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
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 of applications to test, one of the three applications the District selected for verification wa s not error-prone. As such, it should not have been selected for verification. 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 The District did not review the ap plications it selected to ensure each one met the criteria for classification as error-prone. Effect of Condition and Questioned Costs A lack of proper internal controls over the verification process increases the risk that error -prone applications are not properly selected for verification. It also increases the risk that free or reduced -price meals could be provided to children who are not eligible to receive them. The District could receive funding for households that do not qualify for free and reduced-price meals. Recommendation We recommend that the District improve its internal controls to ensure it performs its application selection process correctly. Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ District ’s Response The Kettle Falls School District Nutrition Services Manager will continue to sample applications and verify that family income information reported to the district is correct. The Administrative Secretary for the Kettle Falls School district will continue to receive copies of the verific ations. These are reviewed to make sure the process was completed and completed prior to November 15 th deadline. Controls will be updated in the following manner: The Administrative Secretary will be involved in the process prior to the deadline of November 15th to get all back up documentation to prove that the applications chosen for verification are “error prone” applications. She will work with the Nutrition Services Manager to assure that we have back up documents on the number of applications to be chosen, that “error prone” applications are chosen, and that all verifications are completed before the November 15th deadline. All documentation will also be reviewed by the Business Manager. Auditor’s Remarks We appreciate the District’s commitment to r esolving the issues noted and will follow up during the next audit. Applicable Laws and Regulations The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants defines significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in its Codification of Statements on Auditing Standards, section 935, paragraph 11. Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance), section 516, Audit findings, establishes re porting requirements for audit findings. Title 2 CFR Part 200, Uniform Guidance, section 303, Internal controls, describes the requirements for auditees to maintain internal controls over federal programs and comply with federal program requirements. Title 7 CFR Part 245, Determining Eligibility for Free and Reduced Price Meals and Free Milk in Schools , Section 6a, Verification requirements, establishes requirements for verifying eligibility of children for free and reduced price meal benefits. Washington State Auditor's Office ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________	https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021221&isFinding=false&sp=false	2026-07-30 13:24:54