Administration for Children and Families, TANF Bureau'Internal Control Review of the Process for Awarding American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funds

Our review found that most of the Administration for Children and Families, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Bureau's internal controls for awarding American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) funds to grantees, as described by management, were suitably designed to provide reasonable assurance that the specified internal control objectives would be achieved if the described internal controls were complied with satisfactorily and applied as designed. However, the Recovery Act established TANF funding mechanisms that used caseload and expenditure information that was not readily available to ACF. According to its Recovery Program Plan submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the TANF Bureau does not have internal control procedures in place to ensure the accuracy of estimated caseload and expenditure information submitted by grantees. The TANF Bureau has subsequently developed procedures to reconcile estimated information with actual data and for remitting funds resulting from overpayments due to estimated data. The procedures are currently under review by the Department of Health & Human Services and will be provided to jurisdictions once OMB approval of the TANF Bureau's revised form and instructions is complete.