State’s Board of Internal Control makes progress, slowly, on forms – Rapid City Journal

PIERRE | The state Board of Internal Control made a little more progress Wednesday on creating standard financial forms for state government departments and offices to use.

The legislature established the board one year ago at the suggestion of Gov. Dennis Daugaard, in response to state Department of Legislative Audit findings.

The six members who attended the hourlong meeting Wednesday at the Capitol focused much of their time on exemptions for two agencies: the Department of Health and the Department of Social Services.

The (Uniform Grant Guidance) workgroup is kind of at an impasse, said Liza Clark. She is commissioner for the state Bureau of Finance and Management, the governors budget office that is at the center of the internal-control work.

Clark asked UGG members to make a list for the May meeting showing what is different for Social Services, Health and a third group seeking exemptions, the Board of Regents, whose members govern the state universities.

Thatll help, Clark said. So we can specifically say why the forms wont work.

She added, Its a slippery slope.

The regents meanwhile had their presentation rescheduled Wednesday to the May meeting as well.

Monte Kramer, the regents vice president for finance and administration and a Board of Internal Control member, said he envied the freedom being given to Social Services and Health. Kramer praised the sub-recipient form outlined by Social Services attorney Dave McVey.

That was very thorough, Kramer said. It was very well done.

That group has done an amazing job, Keith Senger, a BFM administrator, said about the Social Services panel. This process takes a lot longer than anticipated.

Laurie Mikkonen, chief finance officer for Social Services, spoke to the board about the contract template form. She said program staff members determine the template to be used.

They can choose among interagency; sub-recipient; contractor, with a choice of consultant or vendor; or individual beneficiary.

Thats our basic form, Mikkonen said.

Kari Williams, who is Healths finance officer and a board member, said about her department's pre-contract risk assessment: We like our form.

This form gets filled out by the sub-recipient. It gets sent back to the fiscal office, Williams explained.

She said there is standardized scoring. Every entity is scored exactly the same way," Williams said. "The number comes out the way it comes out. We dont make any adjustments to it. Its fair to everybody.

McVey said the intent of the sub-recipient agreement at Social Services is uniformity with flexibility.

He said there are three substantive sections. The first sets all 13 requirements from the UGG group, with options for records retention, audit months and closeout language.

The second and third sections deal with topics such as termination days and insurance requirements. These are clauses I wouldnt say are optional, but they can be added or deleted as needed, McVey said.

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State's Board of Internal Control makes progress, slowly, on forms - Rapid City Journal