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 $356 million. Since FY 2017, independent auditors have declined to issue an opinion on the financial statements of AmeriCorps and the National Service Trust. This year, they again issued a disclaimer of opinion, reporting four material weaknesses and one significant deficiency. Three of the material weaknesses date back to FY 2017.AmeriCorps acknowledged at the beginning of the audit that it had not made progress in validating the data underlying the Trust Obligation and Liability Model (TOLM), which AmeriCorps uses to estimate its future education award payments. Accordingly, the TOLM remains listed as a material weakness. The auditors also found modified-repeat material weaknesses in AmeriCorps’ Internal Controls Program and its Financial System and Reporting, plus a new material weakness related to AmeriCorps’ Migration to a Shared Services Provider.AmeriCorps has closed seven of the 37 prior year recommendations outstanding since FY 2019. The remaining 30 recommendations remain unimplemented, six of them in modified form. The auditors also made seven new recommendations, for a total of 37.The auditors noted that AmeriCorps lacks a strategic plan to bring the agency to an auditable condition and had not created corrective action plans for most of the material weaknesses and the significant deficiency. AmeriCorps acknowledged the findings and recommendations but did not agree or disagree with them. In promising improvements, the Chief Financial Officer stated: AmeriCorps is committed to implementing strategic reforms to the agency’s audit management and resolution efforts, focusing heavily on agency audit readiness, improving operational and programmatic internal controls, and increasing senior leadership engagement in corrective action planning and oversight. Audit Report, p, 27.The independent accounting firm of CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, performed the audit of the AmeriCorps FY 2021 National Service Trust Fund financial statements, under contract with AmeriCorps-OIG.
Open Recommendations
| Recommendation Number | Significant Recommendation | Recommended Questioned Costs | Recommended Funds for Better Use | Additional Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Perform a risk assessment over the current state of the conversion to ARC and work jointly with ARC, senior leadership, Office of Chief Risk Officer, and functional groups affected by the risk to develop a mitigation strategy and execute a realistic and properly designed corrective action plan. (New) | |||||
| 3 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Continue coordinating with ARC to ensure that its accounting platform is compatible with AmeriCorps’ operations and the type of accounting transactions that AmeriCorps processes. (Modified Repeat) | |||||
| 4 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Conduct a review of transactions processed in Momentum and already migrated to Oracle through interface or reported in Oracle using journal entries, to ensure that correct object class codes were applied. (New) | |||||
| 7 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Establish controls and training to ensure that each functional office/unit performs independent assessment of internal controls to inform the CEO’s statement of assurance, even if unfavorable outcomes are expected. This proactive approach will promote the early detection of potential findings and allow for prompt remediation. (New) | |||||
| 9 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Develop and implement audit readiness procedures to ensure that audit information is complete, accurate, has undergone proper quality control procedures, and readily available or can be retrieved timely. The audit readiness procedures should include audit coordination protocol with ARC that clearly define roles and responsibilities of all parties involved in the process. (New) | |||||
| 11 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Continue working with Administrative Resource Center to review and correct AmeriCorps’ balances in detail to ensure they are properly supported and that balances migrated to the ARC platform are complete, accurate, and reliable. (Modified Repeat) | |||||
| 12 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Strengthen its policies and procedures over the processing of JEs going forward now that AmeriCorps has transitioned to the shared service environment. The policies and procedures should cover the following: | |||||
| 12a | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Strengthen its policies and procedures over the processing of JEs going forward now that AmeriCorps has transitioned to the shared service environment. The policies and procedures should cover the following: | |||||
| 12b | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| A policy as to when it is appropriate to use a JE and approval procedures for JEs recorded to ensure segregation of duties | |||||
| 12c | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| A requirement to provide a fact-specific description of the purpose of the JE, along with adequate supporting documentation. | |||||
| 12d | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| A requirement to provide a fact-specific description of the purpose of the JE, along with adequate supporting documentation. | |||||
| 13 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| Validate and ensure JEs are properly supported, documented, and are readily available for examination. (Modified Repeat) | |||||
