WA State Govt. ‘Flunks’ Audit, 62 Complaints in Latest Report
According to the annual audit released by the Washington State Auditor's office the state apparently didn't properly monitor a lot of areas, including COVID relief.
62 issues found in the latest audit
According to the audit, and information released by Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center, these are federally related issues.
The Auditor's office released an adverse opinion on the state's compliance with three federal COVID relief funds, including the Coronavirus Relief Fund, Coronavirus State, and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs.
From the audit, by way of Mercier and the WA Policy Center:
- “The State lacked adequate internal controls over financial reporting for ensuring accurate recording and monitoring of financial activity in its financial statements.”
- “The Department of Social and Health Services did not have adequate internal controls to ensure payments were allowable and properly supported, and did not comply with federal requirements to conduct fiscal monitoring of subrecipients for the Coronavirus Relief Fund.”
- “The Department of Commerce did not have adequate internal controls over and did not comply with federal requirements to conduct fiscal monitoring of subrecipients and ensure payments were allowable and properly supported for the Coronavirus Relief Fund.”
- “The Office of Financial Management did not have adequate internal controls over and did not comply with reporting requirements for the Coronavirus Relief Fund.”
In layman's terms, the state did a poor job of making sure citizens, businesses, and 'welfare' recipients were A) eligible for relief funds, B) they got only the legally allowed amounts, and C) the money was properly allocated based upon requirements reported by these recipients.
Sub-recipients would be the citizens, businesses, and others who got the money from the state AFTER it came from the federal government.
Also named in the adverse reports were WSU, OSPI (Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction), and the Department of Commerce. To see the Auditor's report, click here.
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