Reports

This special report provides summary information and 4 interactive dashboards with Arizona school districts’ and charter schools’ (districts and charters) reported spending in fiscal year (FY) 2022 and in total through June 30, 2022, and planned future spending of allocated/awarded (awarded) COVID-19 federal relief monies (relief monies), as required by Laws 2021, Ch. 408, §54. This special report also provides Arizona Department of Education (ADE)-reported spending in FY 2022 and in total through June 30, 2022, and planned future spending of the discretionary federal relief monies that it...

This report reviewed the performance of the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA), which administers the Arizona Coronavirus Relief Fund (Fund). The Fund was established to receive donations and provide financial support to organizations working to mitigate the impact of the pandemic in Arizona. Through the review of more than $7.8 million of the total $10.2 million distributed from the Fund, the audit identified that most of these monies were used for PPE for frontline medical personnel. Additionally, the review of 15 grant awards totaling $2.5 million to nonprofit organizations found that the ACA...

In fiscal year 2021-22, The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) administered 30 economic development programs through which it allocated $58.0 million in tax credits, awarded $91.3 million in grants and $4.8 million in loans, and authorized local governments to issue $53.4 million in bonds. A portion of these funds were provided through the CARES Act and were used to support the state’s response to the pandemic. Through their biennial financial audit and program evaluation of WEDC, the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Burau found that, among other things, five grants totaling $50,000...

From March 2020 through June 2022, the Department of Health Services (DHS) awarded $159.6 million in program grants to 1,431 long-term health care and emergency medical services providers. We question $518,700 that DHS paid to 10 grant applicants that did not submit sufficient documentation to support their grant applications or the grant amounts they requested. We provide recommendations to DHS to improve how it administers its grant programs and its Ventilator Stewardship program. We also recommend DHS improve how its Office of Inspector General ensures program integrity.

In FY 2021-22, state agencies administered $20.2 billion in federal financial assistance, including $5.9 billion that was expended related to the public health emergency and that was separately identified in the State’s Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Our audit focused on 22 federal programs that accounted for 58.9 percent of the federal financial assistance administered. We provided an unmodified opinion on federal compliance for 21 of the programs we reviewed. However, we again qualified our opinion on compliance for certain requirements related to the Emergency Rental Assistance...

We provided unmodified audit opinions on University of Wisconsin (UW) System’s FY 2021-22 financial statements, including its aggregate discretely presented component units. We also completed a limited-scope review of how UW institutions administered supplemental federal funds from three sources. We found that UW institutions used $239,200 from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund for costs that were unallowable by criteria that the federal government established. In addition, we recommend UW System Administration improve its oversight of a new computer application.

We provided unmodified audit opinions on the State of Wisconsin’s FY 2021-22 financial statements. These financial statements are included in the State’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. We reported seven significant deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting, and we made 24 recommendations to state agencies. We also reviewed certain aspects of the federal funding the State received for the public health emergency, and we included in our report certain other matters of interest related to the State’s activities in FY 2021-22.

As requested by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, we have completed a limited-scope review of how the Department of Administration (DOA) used supplemental federal funds provided in response to the public health emergency. DOA paid $2.2 billion to other state agencies and spent $1.5 billion on its own programs. As of June 30, 2022, $1.8 billion in discretionary funds were remaining. In December 2022, DOA indicated it had plans for using most of these funds.

Since March 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and through September 2022, the federal government has allocated through various acts $77.8 billion to the State of Arizona and its local governments, businesses, and individuals for COVID-19 response and relief efforts. This special COVID-19 funding report presents information on the amounts, intended purposes, and recipients of those allocations. It also presents the results of our audit of the allocated monies Arizona State government directly spent and distributed during fiscal year 2021.