Reports - Audit

This audit assessed the Peace Corps' internal controls over the budget, obligation, and disbursement of CARES Act funds, including compliance with the law and other implementing guidance. We concluded that the Peace Corps complied with necessary provisions of the law and other relevant policies and did not issue any recommendations with this report.

The objectives of this performance audit were to assess the completeness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy of Fiscal Year 2021, First Quarter financial and award data submitted for publication on USAspending.gov in accordance with the DATA Act and to assess the Peace Corps’ compliance with use of the Government-wide financial data standards established by the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of the Treasury. While the majority of the data submitted was of high quality, the agency failed to include required information in their submission, submitted inappropriate data, and misrepresented the level of budgetary resources used. These errors occurred because the agency continues to lack a comprehensive quality control program over the DATA Act submissions, including source systems and data.

Our report contains 13 recommendations directed to the post and headquarters. We recommend that the post improve controls related to Volunteer bank account closure, billing and collection, and imprest funds. Additionally, we recommend that headquarters strengthen internal controls related to the administration of financial-system user roles and issue medical guidelines to comply with host country laws.

OIG conducted the audit of Peace Corps/Ghana from July 15, 2019 to August 2, 2019. Our overall objective in auditing overseas posts is to determine whether the financial and administrative operations are functioning effectively and in compliance with Peace Corps policies and Federal regulations. The post’s financial and administrative operations required improvement to comply with agency policies and applicable Federal laws and regulations. Our report contains 52 recommendations directed to both the post and headquarters. Our recommendations included strengthening controls over managing imprest funds, Volunteer payments, property accountability, grants management, security certifications, financial management system access, and bill of collections; ensuring that contracts are adequately executed, and purchases are adequately authorized.

Our report contains 13 recommendations directed to the post and headquarters. We recommend that the post improve controls related to Volunteer health information, billing and collection, and imprest fund. Additionally, we recommend that headquarters revise policies and procedures related to the distribution of medical supplies to Volunteers, as well as administration of financial-system user roles.

The objectives of this audit were to assess whether the Peace Corps complied with the IPERA reporting requirements and provided adequate disclosure within the annual AFR and accompanying materials. In addition, we also evaluated the accuracy and completeness of the agency’s reporting.

The objectives of this performance audit were to assess the completeness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy of Fiscal Year 2019, First Quarter financial and award data submitted for publication on USAspending.gov in accordance with the DATA Act and to assess the Peace Corps’ compliance with use of the Government-wide financial data standards established by the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of the Treasury. While the Peace Corps’ FY 2019, Q1 DATA Act submission was of high quality, the agency lacks a comprehensive data quality plan outlining the risks and what mitigating controls it has in place to demonstrate that data submitted is of high quality.