Thursday, March 18, 2021 - 09:27 am Categories:
News Releases

The State Auditor’s Office has completed the Federal Single Audit for North Dakota. This audit is federally required to be conducted every other year. The purpose of the Single Audit is to review federal grants to check compliance with guidelines. Reviews on 24 different federal programs were conducted including areas such as Medicaid, public service programs, flood control, education, and transportation.

There were 28 areas of concern (findings) that were identified by the State Auditor’s Office, with 16 being repeats from the last Single Audit. Over the years, the number of findings continues to decrease as agencies address the concerns identified in audits. In the 2016 Single Audit our office issued 74 findings, and in 2018 the total number of findings was 46.

The most significant errors were found in the Child Care Development program through the Department of Human Services. These included:

  • The Department of Human Services is not checking that childcare providers have the necessary records for children. Federal law mandates that immunization records — as well as a statement of health — is required for each child enrolled with a childcare provider. Of the 83 licenses reviewed, 27 did not have adequate documentation. This could lead to a risk of children being exposed to unidentified health concerns and was a repeat finding from the previous audit.
     
  • The Department of Human Services is failing to check that childcare providers are complying with health and safety standards set by North Dakota state law. Disregard to health and safety requirements could jeopardize the wellbeing of children. This was a repeat finding from our previous audit.

“The Single Audit is significant because it represents a large sweeping review of federal programs,” said State Auditor Joshua Gallion. “We appreciate the work state agencies have done to comply with federal grant standards, as well as the work they have done to address the areas of concern that were identified during the last audit period.”


For the full report, visit http://bit.ly/SingleAudit.