The Udall Foundation still has a lot of work to do to tighten its internal controls for financial management and managing its personnel, a new report says.
The Tucson-based executive-branch agency has made many improvements nearly two years after an audit found “significant issues” in its policies but still fails to meet federal guidelines in two areas, a new report by the Government Accountability Office found.
The Udall Foundation failed to implement key policies and procedures over its contracting practices, including requiring evidence of management’s receipt and review of contractors’ invoices, said. J. Lawrence Malenich, a director of financial management and assurance at the GAO.
“The Foundation has not, as called for under federal internal control standards, fully documented its policies and procedures related to the hiring and separation of employees,” wrote Malenich in the recently released audit.
Foundation Executive Director Phil Lemanski defended the nonprofit’s actions. Lemanski said he chose to focus on getting the new policies and procedures in place knowing they might fall short on guidelines for documentation.
“We knew simply because of staff size and time that we would not be able to get all of the documentation in place,” Lemanski said. “We erred on the side of getting the policies in place and procedures in place.”
He expects to meet guidelines for the documentation for hiring and firing of employees in just a few weeks.
The documentation process for contractors will take a little longer, he said.
The Udall Foundation provides scholarships and internships for top students in environmental policy and tribal policy. The nonprofit has 28 employees, Lemanski said.
The foundation does a lot of work with the federally run Interior Business Center, Lemanski said.
He said the possibility for fraud is highly unlikely, noting the Interior Business Center has its own policies in place. He said the Udall Foundation just needs to better document its own policies.
The December 2012 audit by the Department of the Interior’s Office of the Inspector General found the agency wasn’t meeting federal requirements to monitor and assess its spending and lacked key procedures to check for efficiency and guard against fraud or mistakes in personnel and contracting.
Auditors reviewing the foundation’s documents between 2006 and 2012 found numerous violations of federal laws, including some that could have been considered criminal.
