Search

Included herein is the Statewide Financial Audit Report of the State of Colorado for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2020. The audit was conducted under the authority of Section 2-3-103, C.R.S., which authorizes the State Auditor to conduct audits of all state departments, institutions, and agencies. The purpose of this report is to present the results of the Statewide Financial Audit for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2020.

We reviewed the allocation process and monitoring of emergency COVID-related service grants the City has made using funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the State of California. This preliminary review, the third in a series on emergency expenses,1 aims to support cost recovery oversight, including compliance with federal and state record-keeping, procurement, and audit requirements, as outlined in the Recovery Annex of the City’s Emergency Operations Plan.

We recommend that the City Council accept the City Auditor’s preliminary review of documentation for COVID-19 related costs to support receipt of emergency public assistance through the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF).

We recommend that the City Council accept the City Auditor’s interim report on the status of internal controls for documenting COVID-19 related costs to support receipt of emergency public assistance grants through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The purpose of this document is to describe the general regulatory and internal control framework the City of Sacramento will operate under for the City’s COVID-19 response and all COVID-19 related activities. This document is an essential resource for the City as it identifies key COVID-19 regulatory and internal control information that can aid in maximizing the City’s eligibility for State and Federal resources. This document is a general guide for the City to use.

The Office has reviewed two of the Governor’s decisions regarding the spending of Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) dollars. We are providing this guidance now to ensure the Governor has an opportunity to correct identified spending that does not comply or may not comply with use restrictions. We have also consulted with The United States Treasury Office of the Inspector General to confirm our conclusions.

The City of Sacramento will be subject to future audits of State and Federal funds, such as the Coronavirus Relief Fund or FEMA Public Assistance. These audits would likely be conducted by an Inspector General’s Office or the Government Accountability Office. The key to successfully withstanding any future audit will be the City’s ability to provide sufficient and appropriate documentation supporting the use of these funds.

The objective of these assessments is to help the City prepare for State and Federal audits of the City’s use of emergency funding. This includes proactive and real-time assistance in complying with regulatory requirements, securing reimbursements, tracking disaster recovery costs, and evaluating whether funds are being used efficiently and effectively.

The economic shutdowns in early 2020 led to historically high numbers of UI claims in a very short time (claim surge), and further shutdowns began in December 2020, raising the potential for additional spikes in unemployment. This audit reviewed EDD’s response to the claim surge, its handling of the resulting backlog of unpaid claims, and the assistance it has provided to individuals through its call center

Since the surge in pandemic‑related California unemployment claims began in March 2020, individuals, news organizations, and law enforcement officials have reported many cases of potential and actual UI fraud. Not surprisingly, the pandemic conditions increased EDD’s UI workloads and also resulted in changes to federal UI benefit programs, both of which have created a greater risk of fraud.

This report concludes that the five courts we reviewed for this audit—the superior courts in Alameda, Contra Costa, Lake, Orange, and San Bernardino counties—adhered to most of the required and recommended procurement and contracting practices that we evaluated, but they could improve in certain areas.

We found that the State has met or exceeded targets for testing individuals for COVID‑19, but contact tracing throughout the State has lagged behind case surges that have far exceeded Public Health’s initial planning

The primary objective of this report is to show Missouri's spending of federal assistance in the month of April 2021 for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency and the cumulative financial activity since the state began receiving funding in April 2020.

The primary objective of this report is to show Missouri's spending of federal assistance in the month of March 2021 for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency and the cumulative financial activity since the state began receiving funding in April 2020.

The primary objective of this report is to show Missouri's spending of federal assistance in the month of February 2021 for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency and the cumulative financial activity since the state began receiving funding in April 2020.

The primary objective of this report is to show Missouri's spending of federal assistance in the month of January 2021 for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency and the cumulative financial activity since the state began receiving funding in April 2020.

The primary objective of this report is to show Missouri's spending of federal assistance in the month of December 2020 for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency and the cumulative financial activity since the state began receiving funding in April 2020.

The primary objective of this report is to show Missouri's spending of federal assistance in the month of October 2020 for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency and the cumulative financial activity since the state began receiving funding in April 2020.

The primary objective of this report is to show Missouri's spending of federal assistance in the month of November 2020 for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency and the cumulative financial activity since the state began receiving funding in April 2020.

The primary objective of this report is to show Missouri's spending of federal assistance in the month of September 2020 for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency and the cumulative financial activity since the state began receiving funding in April 2020.

The primary objective of this report is to show Missouri's spending of federal assistance in the month of August 2020 for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency and the cumulative financial activity since the state began receiving funding in April 2020.

The primary objective of this report is to show Missouri's spending of federal assistance in the month of July 2020 for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency and the cumulative financial activity since the state began receiving funding in April 2020.

The primary objective of this report is to show Missouri's spending of federal assistance in the month of June 2020 for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency and the cumulative financial activity since the state began receiving funding in April 2020.

The primary objective of this report is to show Missouri's spending of federal assistance in the month of May 2020 for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency and the cumulative financial activity since the state began receiving funding in April 2020.

This audit was conducted to determine whether City Procurement’s monitoring controls for PCards are adequate, with a focus on COVID-19 related purchases.

This audit was conducted to determine whether adequate controls have been established to ensure compliance with purchasing requirements, including the appropriate use of emergency purchase exceptions.

The purpose of this audit was to determine whether the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) accounted for, allocated, and disbursed amounts appropriated to the State of North Carolina’s Coronavirus Relief Fund in accordance with 2020 COVID-19 Recovery Act legislation (Recovery Act). 1

The purpose of this audit was to determine whether the Department of Revenue (Department) awarded the Extra Credit Grant to eligible individuals in compliance with North Carolina Session Law 2020-4 Sections 4.12.(a)–(d). 1 If not in compliance, identify the causes and the effect of noncompliance. Some low-income families6 did not receive Extra Credit Grant Program payments from the State. These families did not receive the payments because of the additional steps the Department needed to take in order to award payments to low-income families in a short timeframe.

The Office of the State Auditor conducted an audit of Coronavirus Relief Funds that were allocated to the Department from the 2020 COVID-19 Recovery Act. Specifically, the two objectives of this audit were to determine whether the Department established and implemented procedures to ensure that: 1. Coronavirus Relief Funds were spent in accordance with the 2020 COVID-19 Recovery Act and subsequent amendments 2. Programs that received Coronavirus Relief Funds accomplished their intended purpose, such as improving student ability through reading and math interventions and providing school...

The purpose of this audit was to determine whether the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management’s (OSBM) North Carolina Pandemic Recovery Office (NCPRO) designed and implemented procedures to ensure that: (1) Coronavirus Relief Funds were being spent in accordance with the 2020 COVID-19 Recovery Act and subsequent amendments. (2) Programs that received Coronavirus Relief Funds were achieving their legislatively intended result.

We have audited, in accordance with auditing standards general accepted in the United States of America and the standards applicable to financial audits contained in Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States, the financial statements of the governmental activities, the business-type activities, the aggregate discretely presented component units, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information of the state of North Dakota as of and for the year ended June 30, 2020, and the related notes to the financial statements, which collectively...

The objective of our audit was to determine whether adequate controls were in place at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to approve and disburse funds through the selected programs in compliance with internal requirements and applicable program criteria.

This report examines the use of overtime by New York State agencies over the past ten calendar years.1 The total cost of overtime in calendar year 2020 reached an all-time high at more than $850 million, covering roughly 19.1 million overtime hours worked. Certain agencies experienced major spikes in overtime due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but most overtime was performed in agencies that have typically relied upon it.

This audit is part of a multi-state project to examine data related to COVID-19. This effort was a collaboration among State Auditor offices from Delaware, Florida, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Ohio and was developed with assistance from the National State Auditors Association.

Auditor Faber’s Office issued a qualified opinion on the Unemployment Compensation Fund, and Business-Type Activities opinion units in the State of Ohio’s financial statements due to internal control weaknesses related to recipient eligibility and claims processing of unemployment benefits. A qualified opinion indicates the auditors could not be assured the financials for these opinion units are fairly presented, in all material respects, based on the issues identified. This is a significant qualification.

We conducted this audit to support transparent and accountable government operations during this unprecedented time. We focused our work on determining steps the county took to ensure that vital services could continue safely and equitably during the pandemic; whether those steps were in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health authorities to reduce health risks; and what improvements can be made moving forward.

This advisory report suggests actions the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), Oregon Health Authority (OHA), and the Legislature can take to reduce illness and death from communicable diseases in nursing homes, assisted living, and residential care facilities, now and in the future.

Part of our hotline work is educating county employees about fraud red flags. As an extension of that service, we are sharing tips to help community members stay safe online during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Department of Administrative Services (DAS) made progress on 11 of the 16 recommendations from the original audit, fully implementing six. COVID-19 response and preparation for the 2021-23 budget made it difficult for DAS to implement some recommendations, specifically those pertaining to end of biennium spending. Additionally, the agency’s choice to deviate from standard response options in four recommendations made our follow-up work more difficult and limited accountability and transparency.

This report is intended to provide assurance that the City has established adequate controls over disaster-related expenses to maximize COVID-19 related reimbursements.

The City has established and implemented several disaster management plans – including a Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan. Still, additional considerations in these plans would ensure the City is more prepared for potential future pandemics.

Memorandum: The state recognized that some sheriff departments sought and received loans through SBA. Other state governmental entities may have also received PPP loans or may be considering applying for them.

Memorandum: Auditor Office has begun to examine the State's distribution and spending of more than $1.3 billion of federal funding that has been or is expected to be received via the federal pandemic response/stimulus acts – including the CARES Act.

Memorandum: The recently issued U.S. Treasury Coronavirus Relief Fund FAQ1 has implications for the Governor’s proposed Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. As proposed, the Vermont EIDL program to be administered by the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) establishes a perpetual revolving loan fund. However, the FAQ indicates that all loan repayments subsequent to December 30, 2020 must be returned to the U.S. Treasury.

Memorandum: There is desire to inject the CARES Act funding into the community as soon as possible. However, some aspects of this bill raise concerns about risk that deserve your consideration. Creating the program and appropriating $50 million before the Tax Department has established “a formula for determining the amount of grant awards” is a significant delegation of authority without any guidance.

Memorandum: The Office requests the legislature add an explicit requirement in all future bills authorizing the expenditure of COVID-19 funds. The State Auditor’s Office must have access to records that relate to eligibility for and use of economic recovery grant funds.

Act 115 of 2019 established the Vermont Emergency Economic Recovery Grants program and affords the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) and the Department of Taxes (Department) significant discretion for developing guidelines to implement the $152 million program, but the law also requires certain procedures and standards. The guidelines developed by ACCD and the Department – specifically the first-come, first-served distribution of public dollars and the absence of an evaluation of need in the application process – may not be consistent with the legislation. This approach does...

Similar to the Economic Recovery Grant (ERG) programs, the Gap program requires that businesses demonstrate economic loss due to COVID-19 but does not define economic loss. If ACCD uses revenue loss to measure economic loss for businesses that were in operation prior to the pandemic, the Gap program will be exposed to the same risk the Joint Fiscal Office pointed out in its November 2020 memo to the Joint Fiscal Committee regarding the ERG program.

The Economic Recovery Bridge Grant program in H.315 uses 2020 federal tax loss to establish eligibility for grants. Focusing on tax loss may help target limited resources to businesses that need assistance to remain viable. However, federal tax loss could include some deductions that increase 2020 losses but overstate the businesses’ need for financial assistance.

This report is the second in a series of savings-focused best practice reviews to be conducted by the Auditor’s Office. We conducted this analysis to illustrate some of the potential furlough options policymakers have when making decisions about how to reduce the County’s costs. Individual departments could also implement these types of furlough structures for their employees. We are not making recommendations at this time.