Selected reports issued by the Office of the State Comptroller during the week ending June 11, 2016
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New YorkState Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the following audits have been issued:
CUNY officials provided auditors with a list of 24 bank accounts at Medgar Evers. Fourteen accounts were opened after CUNY’s bank authorization policy was established in 2008. However, CUNY did not have any of the required notification forms for these accounts. Additionally, auditors found an additional two accounts that were not on the list. These findings point to weaknesses in the monitoring of bank accounts, which increase the risk that college personnel could conduct transactions using unauthorized accounts. Of 54 payments (totaling $810,608) paid from six selected bank accounts, 26 (totaling $118,782) were either improper or were unsupported.
Auditors determined Wagner was overpaid $97,947 because school officials incorrectly certified students as eligible for state financial aid awards. Incorrect certifications include eight students who received awards but had not met the good academic standing requirements and three students who were not enrolled at Wagner for the semesters in question.
Vaughn's certification procedures for state financial aid substantially complied with the governing law and regulations. Auditors found that of the 50 awards tested, only two (totaling $3,945) were certified in error. As such, auditors concluded there is a low risk that a significant number of students certified for state financial aid were not eligible for awards.
Auditors found that despite two relatively recent audits by OASAS, claims submitted by PROMESA for the two years ended June 30, 2014 continued to include costs that were not valid or consistent with state guidelines. PROMESA reported about $23 million in costs associated with contracted OASAS programs during the period. The audit examined about $9 million of these expenses and identified problems with over 90 percent – $8.2 million.
Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS): Drug and Alcohol Treatment Program: Provider Claiming of Depreciation Expenses (2015-S-84)
OASAS is not effectively monitoring Drug and Alcohol Treatment program contracts to ensure provider claims do not include state reimbursement for depreciation expenses. Auditors found providers inappropriately claimed $2.7 million in depreciation expenses, of which $2.2 million was funded by OASAS. Also, OASAS could potentially use the remaining $454,238 for inappropriate increases to providers’ future program budgets.
OASAS is not effectively monitoring Drug and Alcohol Treatment program contracts to ensure provider claims do not include state reimbursement for depreciation expenses. Auditors found providers inappropriately claimed $2.7 million in depreciation expenses, of which $2.2 million was funded by OASAS. Also, OASAS could potentially use the remaining $454,238 for inappropriate increases to providers’ future program budgets.
An initial audit report issued in December 2014 found OPRHP advance accounts received little scrutiny and made recommendations to improve internal controls over these accounts. In a follow-up report, auditors determined the agency made significant progress in correcting the problems identified in the initial report. Of the eight prior audit recommendations, seven have been implemented and one recommendation has not been implemented.
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2014, auditors identified $4,354 in costs that were charged to the preschool special education programs that did not comply with SED’s requirements for reimbursement. The non-reimbursable costs included insufficiently documented expenses, costs for services that were not directly related to the programs, unallowable working capital interest and credit card late fees.
SUNY schools were generally knowledgeable about PCI compliance and the need to protect credit card data from unauthorized access; however, auditors identified areas where system and data controls need to be improved to meet certain compliance standards. Among a range of issues, auditors identified weaknesses in the completeness of the systems’ component inventories, network segmentation, the resolution of compliance deficiencies and the oversight of affiliated campus organizations.
Auditors examined Downstate contracts with Collecto for debt collection services. Under the $2.5 million contract, Downstate pays Collecto various commission rates based on the amount collected by account type and size. Of the $29,288 examined, auditors found overpayments of $14,355 and additional potential overpayments of $2,664. The remaining $12,269 was appropriate and properly supported.
The department processes all New York state personal income tax returns. During the audit period, the department processed almost 7.5 million refunds totaling over $8.6 billion. From this population, auditors examined 31,978 refunds totaling almost $516.5 million. Of those, auditors identified and returned 11,469 questionable refunds totaling about $53.3 million.