Audit of the Office of Justice Programs Victim Compensation Grants Awarded to the Office of Kansas Attorney General, Topeka, Kansas

• NCJ Number: 309390
• Date Published: June 2023
• Length: 25 pages

Annotation

This report presents the results of an audit of the Office of Justice Programs Victim Compensation Grants Awarded to the Office of Kansas Attorney General, Topeka, Kansas.

Abstract

This audit of the Office of Justice Programs Victim Compensation Grants Awarded to the Office of Kansas Attorney General, Topeka, Kansas, concluded that Kansas AG established an adequate program to compensate victims and survivors of criminal violence; the audit did not identify significant concerns regarding performance reporting and administrative expenses. However, auditors did identify issues related to Kansas AG’s accounting policies and procedures, financial reporting, and drawdowns. The objective of the audit was to evaluate the Kansas AG’s design and implementation of its crime victim compensation program. The auditors assessed performance in the following areas of grant management: (1) grant program planning and execution, (2) program requirements and performance reporting, and (3) grant financial management. Additionally, the auditors questioned $40,772 in unallowable drawdowns. The U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General completed an audit of three Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) victim compensation formula grants awarded by the OJP Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) to Kansas AG in Topeka, Kansas. Auditors found that Kansas AG’s policies and procedures governing the decision-making process for individual compensation claims were adequate and that the total amounts on Kansas AG’s state certification forms were generally accurate and supported. However, auditors could not verify the accuracy of the amounts reported for VOCA funds spent by award. Kansas AG accurately completed its performance reports and complied with the two special conditions tested. Kansas AG did not maintain separate accounting records to track VOCA victim compensation expenditures by award; as a result, the auditors could not: (1) verify the accuracy of the expenditures by award section of Kansas AG’s annual state certification form, (2) determine if drawdowns for the awards were supported, or (3) determine if the reports submitted for the awards were accurate. The audit identified unallowable drawdowns related to duplicate claims.