Reports: Audit

The audit of AmeriCorps grants awarded to the Puerto Rico Commission for Volunteerism and Community Service (the Commission) and two of its subgrantees found that the Commission and subgrantees did not comply with Federal regulations and AmeriCorps grant terms and conditions resulting in $625,446 in questioned Federal and match costs, and education awards. Specifically, the Commission did not adequately document or appropriately report costs.

The performance audit of AmeriCorps grants awarded to Serve DC, the Mayor’s Office on Volunteerism and Partnership, and three of its 16 subgrantees (including the Jumpstart for Young Children, Center for Inspired Teaching, and Inspired Teaching Demonstration Public Charter School) identified approximately $1.7 million of questioned Federal and match costs covering three calendar years from 2017 through 2019. The Inspired Teaching Demonstration Public Charter School became the Center for Inspired Teaching and had no claimed costs.

The National Service Trust holds the funds set aside to pay the education awards of national service members who successfully complete their service terms. Responsibility for the education awards that have been earned or will be earned in the near future is the largest liability on AmeriCorps’ financial statements at $315 million. AmeriCorps has been unable to produce auditable financial statements for the last seven years. This year, independent auditors issued another disclaimer of opinion, reporting five material weaknesses and one significant deficiency.

Independent auditors have declined to issue an opinion on AmeriCorps’ financial statements for the seventh year. They issued a disclaimer of opinion reporting 12 material weaknesses and two significant deficiencies. Eleven of the material weaknesses are recurring, four of them since FY 2017, six since FY 2018, and one since FY 2021.

The audit of 15 AmeriCorps Seniors grantees found that their financial management systems did not comply with Federal regulations and grant terms and conditions. As a result of these deficiencies, we identified $268,627 in questioned Federal costs and $377,199 in non-compliant match costs reported on AmeriCorps grants. AmeriCorps waived match requirements for AmeriCorps Seniors grants during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was within our audit scope, so we could not question the $377,199 in unsupported match costs.

In 2019, Congress enacted the Payment Integrity Information Act (PIIA) to update required reporting on agencies’ improper payments. PIIA requires agencies to review and identify programs and activities that may be susceptible to significant improper payments, estimate the improper payments rates in agency programs, and report on their actions to reduce and recover those payments. The Inspector General of each agency assesses compliance with these requirements annually.AmeriCorps implemented corrective actions in FY 2022 that improved its compliance with PIIA reporting requirements.

The fiscal year 2022 FISMA evaluation concluded that AmeriCorps’ information security program remains ineffective. Control weaknesses in the following areas prevent AmeriCorps’ cybersecurity program from maturing: (1) mobile devices, (2) IT asset inventory management, (3) vulnerability and patch management program, (4) Personal Identity Verification (PIV) multifactor authentication, (5) performance measures, (6) security assessments and (7) contingency planning.

In accordance with the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012), AmeriCorps, a Federal grant-making agency, is responsible for establishing and maintaining safeguards and internal controls for its government card program. The government card program is composed of purchase cards used by AmeriCorps personnel to purchase commercial goods and services, and travel cards used for official government travel expenses. In FY 2021, AmeriCorps transitioned its financial operations to a shared service platform offered by the Administrative Resource Center (ARC) within the U.S.

AmeriCorps has been unable to produce auditable financial statements for the last six years. This year, independent auditors again issued a disclaimer of opinion, reporting 12 material weaknesses and two significant deficiencies. Ten of the material weaknesses are recurring, four of them since FY 2017, five since FY 2018, and one since FY 2021. The auditors reported two new material weaknesses: (1) Knowledge Gap throughout Financial Management Operations and (2) Advances from Others. Further, the financial statements and accompanying notes were not in accordance with U.S.