**PRESS RELEASE**
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 27, 2019
State Auditor Gallion Releases Single Audit Report for North Dakota
Contact information: Brianna Ludwig, North Dakota State Auditor’s Office, 701-328-2453, bsludwig@nd.gov
The Single Audit of North Dakota for the fiscal years 2017 and 2018 resulted in 46 findings and recommendations related to many of the state’s key financial operations and the administration of federal programs. The Single Audit Report is required by both state and federal law as a condition of continued federal assistance.
The State’s fiscal year 2017 and 2018 expenditures of federal awards totaled over $4 billion under a wide variety of more than 650 individual programs. Many programs are jointly financed with federal and state funding.
This audit included 18 federal programs and covered 63 percent of the total expenditures of federal awards. 23 programs were affected by repeat findings.
A few of the findings from the report are highlighted below.
- The Department of Human Services has not completed the quarterly federal reporting for the Medicaid program since the September 2017 quarter. Only $184 million (or 11.5 percent) of the $1.6 billion in federal expenditures during the audit period was properly reported according to federal requirements.
- The Department of Human Services issued payments of $682,531 outside of the period performance for grant awards of the Child Care Assistance program. Expenditures were not recorded properly causing unallowable expenditures and inaccurate financial reporting.
- The Department of Human Services issued payments of $529,160 to improperly licensed child care providers. Our audit report found the Department has not designed consistent procedures to ensure licensing applications include all required documents.
- The Department of Human Services mis-keyed a payment amount into the system that went unnoticed for 15 months totaling $751,500 to one adoptive parent. The parent agreed on $1,125 as a monthly maintenance payment but when the amount was keyed into the system, it was keyed in as $51,225.
"I’d like to commend the management and staff at the Department of Human Services for their efforts to correct audit recommendations and reverse the trend of increased findings over the past several Single Audits,” said State Auditor Joshua Gallion. In previous Single Audits, the Department of Human Services had 61 findings in 2016 and 28 findings in 2014 compared to 36 in the current Single Audit.
For the full report, visit our website: http://bit.ly/2018SingleAudit
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The North Dakota State Auditor’s Office is a constitutional office that produces informative audits to improve government. The Office of the State Auditor is a valuable tool for North Dakota state agencies and local government entities, providing an opportunity to improve operations, fiscal responsibility and taxpayer services.