| Financial Audit Division Report 17-09 | Released March 24, 2017 |
We audited the Department of Health’s use of money it received in fiscal year 2016 through three federal grant programs, including Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; Public Health Emergency Preparedness; and National Bioterrorism Hospital Preparedness.
Our primary objectives were: (1) to determine whether the department’s use of the federal grant money and administration of the programs complied with federal regulations; and (2) to determine whether the department’s controls were adequate to ensure it complied with federal requirements.
For each federal program, we interviewed officials and staff of the Department of Health to understand how the department administered the federal programs and ensured compliance. We analyzed the financial transactions of each program, and, as necessary, tested a sample of those transactions to determine whether the department’s internal controls were effective and to ensure the transactions complied with federal requirements.
We concluded that the Department of Health generally complied with most federal grant requirements for its major federal programs for fiscal year 2016. The department also generally had adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with those requirements. However, the department had an internal control weakness and noncompliance with federal requirements, as noted in the finding presented in this report.1
1 We also audited the fiscal year 2015 federal expenditures for the Public Health Emergency Preparedness and National Bioterrorism Hospital Preparedness programs. This conclusion also applies to those expenditures.
