| Financial Audit Division Report 17-11 | Released March 24, 2017 |
We audited the Department of Human Services’ use of money it received in fiscal year 2016 through eleven large federal grant programs (including Medical Assistance, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, and Temporary Aid for Needy Families).
We designed the audit to determine whether the department’s use of the federal grant money and its administration of the programs complied with federal regulations. We also designed the audit 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 Human Services 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 Human Services generally complied with most federal grant requirements for its large federal programs for fiscal year 2016. The department also generally had adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with those legal requirements.
However, as noted in Finding 1, we concluded that the department did not comply with federal and state eligibility requirements for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program which provides cash assistance to low-income families.
In addition, the department had other instances of noncompliance and internal control weaknesses, including four findings repeated from our prior report,1 as noted in the findings in this report.
1 Office of the Legislative Auditor, Financial Audit Division Report 16-06, Department of Human Services Federal Compliance Audit, issued March 24, 2016. See Appendix B for the status of the findings in this report.
