Prior Policy Context:

The BWSR Grants Monitoring and Financial Reconciliation Policy enhances the agency’s oversight of the state grant funds that are issued to local partners. Its ultimate goal is to ensure that public funds are spent for the purposes that they were given. More specifically, it is mean to ensure that our grant recipients are complying with the terms and conditions of the grant agreements.

In addition to financial reconciliation, BWSR may also visit selected grantees for training, closeouts, and/or other monitoring and reconciliation activities. Under the grant agreement (and Minnesota Statutes 16B.98m subd. 8), “The Grantee or delegated local unit of government will maintain records relating to the receipt and expenditure of grant funds,” and those records “may be examined at any time by the Board or the Board’s designee and are subject to verification.”

Grant Monitoring and Financial Reconciliation Policy

Version:              2.00

Date:                   12/17/2020

Approval:           Board Decision #20-55
 

Policy Statement

Under this policy, BWSR will:

1. Monitor all BWSR grants annually.
2. Complete a risk assessment of all BWSR grants $50,000 and over, as required.
3. For grants subject to financial reconciliation, conduct a reconciliation, as required, on:
   • All BWSR grants that have a high risk assessment score, as defined in the BWSR Risk Assessment Procedure; and
   • At least one grant per grantee every three fiscal years, based on grant allocation fiscal year and BWSR capacity.

Requirements for risk assessment and reconciliation in this policy apply to competitive, legislatively made, formula and single and sole source grants, but not bonding and capital grants or grants exempt from Department of Administration’s Office of Grants Management Policies 08-08 and 08-10.

This policy replaces the June 27, 2018 BWSR Grants Monitoring and Financial Reconciliation Policy and is effective immediately.

Reason for this Policy

The purpose of this policy is to provide direction on and document BWSR compliance with the Department of Administration’s Office of Grants Management Policy 08-08 which requires reconciliation of all advance grant payments over $50,000 and Policy 08-10 which requires state agencies to conduct at least one monitoring visit before final payment is made on all state grants over $50,000.

Requirements

1.0        Implementation

The BWSR Grants Monitoring and Financial Reconciliation Policy will be implemented according to procedures developed by staff and reviewed with the Board or its designated committee.

2.0        Definitions

Financial Reconciliation: Comparing a grantee’s request for payment for a given period with supporting documentation for that request, such as purchase orders, receipts and payroll records.

Grant Allocation Fiscal Year: State fiscal year in which grants are processed by BWSR.

Monitoring: Reviewing and ensuring progress against the grant’s goals, to address any problems or issues before the end of the grant period, and to build rapport between the state agency and the grantee.

Risk Assessment: Evaluating a grant recipient’s risk of noncompliance with statutes, rules, grant agreements, and policies, to determine appropriate monitoring and reconciliation procedures.

History