10 Program, Fiscal Monitoring, and Audit, 2605(b)(10) - Assurance 10

10.1. How do you ensure good fiscal accounting and tracking of funds? Community Action Agencies electronically submit names of eligible households to the State Office. Prior to sending the files they will check for duplicate applicants and household members. These files are then merged into a State master file for additional checks to determine if duplicates exist. After all checks are completed a listing of all eligible customers are sent to the Department's Fiscal Office and the State's Department of Budget and Finance office for processing. This process is done monthly for all Crisis applicants and annually for all Heating and Cooling applicants. The Department of Human Services fiscal office follows standard accounting procedures for all federal programs, including H-HEAP, the office uses State accounting manuals of the Department of Accounting and General Services and the statewide FinancialAccounting and Management Information System (FAMIS) Department accounting staff is not part of H-HEAP. They also track expenditures and cost allocations. The H-HEAP budget is monitored by the H-HEAP Coordinator and reviewed monthly during budget meetings with fiscal staff. H-HEAP is also subject to state single audits 10.1a Provide your definitions of the following: Obligation Obligation means to encumber or allocate funds for a designated purpose through a purchase order. Examples include obligating funds for contracts, benefit payments, postage, salaries, etc.Funds must be obligated by September 30th of each year. Expenditures Expenditures means spending of obligated funds for allowable program costs. Expenditure timeframe Obligated funds must be expended by December 31st of the year received, with the exception of funds carried over to the next program year, not to exceed 10% as prescribed by LIHEAP policy. Administrative costs Costs of administering the H-HEAP program including but not limited do salaries, contracts, etc. Not to exceed 10% of the annualLIHEAP grant. Audit Process 10.2. Is your LIHEAP program audited annually under the Single Audit Act and OMB Circular A - 133? Yes No 10.2a - if yes, describe your auditor selection process. 10.3. Describe any audit findings of the grant recipient (i.e. State/Tribe/Territory) rising to the level of material weakness or reportable condition cited in the single audits, inspector general reviews, or other government agency reviews from the most recently audited fiscal year. No Findings Finding Type Brief Summary Resolved? Action Taken 1 10.4. Audits of Local Administering Agencies What types of annual audit requirements do you have in place for local administering agencies/district offices? Select all that apply. Local agencies/district offices are required to have an annual audit in compliance with Single Audit Act and OMB Circular A-133 Local agencies/district offices are required to have an annual audit (other than A-133) Local agencies/district offices' A-133 or other independent audits are reviewed by Grant recipient as part of compliance process. Grant recipient conducts fiscal and program monitoring of local agencies/district offices Local agencies and district offices are required to have an annual audit in compliance with Single Audit Act and OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Monitoring 10.5. Describe your monitoring process for compliance at each level below. Check all that apply. Grant recipients have a policy in place for appropriate separation of duties and internal controls. Internal program review Departmental oversight Secondary review of invoices and payments Other program review mechanisms are in place. Describe: The H-HEAP office in Hawaii is administratively attached to the Department of Human Services (DHS).H-HEAP consists of one ProgramSpecialist (responsible for the program, payments, and budget) and a part-time clerk. All functions of H-HEAP are the responsibility of the Program Specialist. Supervision and support services, i.e. fiscal management, IT support, and investigation are supported by DHS staff. H-HEAP has many checks and balances to avoid fraud in each stage of the H-HEAP process; there is no one person or agency that determines eligibility and pays benefits. Community Action agencies determine eligibility, which is submitted to the state for final review and payment generation. The eligible households are also matched against utility accounts to ensure correct accounts are being credited. Hawaii has many internal layers of checks and balances before final payment is made, Hawaii fiscal requirements have multiple layers to clear prior to generation of payments. Local Administering Agencies/District Offices: On - site evaluation Annual program review Monitoring through central database Desk reviews Client File Testing/Sampling Other program review mechanisms are in place. Describe: The H-HEAP office in Hawaii is administratively attached to the Department of Human Services (DHS).H-HEAP consists of one ProgramSpecialist (responsible for the program, payments, and budget) and a part-time clerk. All functions of H-HEAP are the responsibility of the Program Specialist. Supervision and support services, i.e. fiscal management, IT support, and investigation are supported by DHS staff. H-HEAP has many checks and balances to avoid fraud in each stage of the H-HEAP process; there is no one person or agency that determines eligibility and pays benefits. Community Action agencies determine eligibility, which is submitted to the state for final review and payment generation. The eligible households are also matched against utility accounts to ensure correct accounts are being credited. Hawaii has many internal layers of checks and balances before final payment is made, Hawaii fiscal requirements have multiple layers to clear prior to generation of payments. 10.6 Explain, or attach a copy of your local agency monitoring schedule and protocol. The H-HEAP office in Hawaii is administratively attached to the Department of Human Services (DHS).H-HEAP consists of one ProgramSpecialist (responsible for the program, payments, and budget) and a part-time clerk. All functions of H-HEAP are the responsibility of the Program Specialist. Supervision and support services, i.e. fiscal management, IT support, and investigation are supported by DHS staff. H-HEAP has many checks and balances to avoid fraud in each stage of the H-HEAP process; there is no one person or agency that determines eligibility and pays benefits. Community Action agencies determine eligibility, which is submitted to the state for final review and payment generation. The eligible households are also matched against utility accounts to ensure correct accounts are being credited. Hawaii has many internal layers of checks and balances before final payment is made, Hawaii fiscal requirements have multiple layers to clear prior to generation of payments. 10.7. Describe how you select local agencies for monitoring reviews. Attach a risk assessment if subrecipients are utilized. Site Visits: All sites are monitored and reviewed. A special site visit may be scheduled if an agency is exhibiting problems, delays in submitting report s and data, or large influx of complaints and fair hearing requests. A special visit may also be scheduled to assist with evaluations and suggestions if an agency has a new manager. Unannounced site visits are scheduled by island on a rotation. The schedule may be amended, and sites re-visited if agency has experienced errors or problems. These visits are scheduled and conducted by the LIHEAP coordinator to ensure that they are unannounced. The number of cases reviewed is dependent on the number of applications each site processed. Desk Reviews: 10.8. How often is each local agency monitored? Please attach a monitoring schedule if one has been developed. Triannually 10.9. How many local agencies are currently on corrective action plans? None If any of the above questions require further explanation or clarification that could not be made in the fields provided, attach a document with said explanation here.