OIG finds accounting, documentation deficiencies in audit of Dallas refugee services, human trafficking group

Over $300,000 in unallowable and unsupported questionable costs were found during an audit of a taxpayer-funded award to Refugee Services of Texas, Inc says the Office of the Inspector General U.S. Department of Justice in a report released to the public on March 31, 2020.

According to the OIG report, Refugee Services of Texas, Inc provides services to hundreds of refugees, asylum seekers, survivors of human trafficking  and related vulnerable populations from over 30 different countries of origin each year.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) completed an audit of four cooperative agreements awarded by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Office for Victims of Crimes (OVC) under the Comprehensive Services for Victims of Human Trafficking program, to Refugee Services of Texas, Inc. (RST) in Dallas, Texas. 
Refugee Services of Texas, Inc. received four awards under this program totaling $2,730,000.

While auditors found RST demonstrated adequate progress towards achieving the awards’ stated goals and objectives and  did not identify significant issues regarding RST’s management of the award budgets or drawdowns, the audit did find the following:

"we identified $308,336 in questioned costs, including $24,969 in unallowable questioned costs and $283,367 in unsupported questioned costs. Subsequent to the issuance of the draft report, RST provided new documentation that supported $8,002 in additional matching costs. As a result, we consider $8,002 of the unsupported matching costs to be remedied. We also found that RST did not comply with essential award conditions related to progress reports, compliance with award special conditions, use of award funds, matching funds, and Federal Financial Reports (FFRs). Additionally, we found that RST’s written policies and procedures could be strengthened." 

An analysis of the report revealed ten (10) recommendations made to Refugee Services of Texas, Inc. to address deficiencies found during the audit, including matching transactions on its general ledgers, implementing new policies and procedures to ensure matching costs are properly supported and  ensure the progress reports are accurate and fully supported.

In a letter to the OIG dated March 13, 2020 Refugee Services of Texas, Inc. submitted their official response to the draft audit report (page 25 of this document) agreeing and disputing with some of the findings.

You can read the entire report here.