The findings, methodology, and recommendations are presented for the U.S. Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General's follow-up audit of the grants awarded under the Methamphetamine Initiative to the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics (MBN) by the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).
The purpose of the Methamphetamine Initiative is to assist State and local law enforcement agencies in reducing the production, distribution, and use of methamphetamine. The current audit was a follow-up audit on the recommendations presented in the 2005 audit of MBN's management of its Methamphetamine Initiative awards. The focus of the current audit was MBN's management of the 2008 and 2009 grant awards. The 2005 audit found that the MBN was not in compliance with the terms and conditions of the award. The MBN's grant drawdowns could not be reconciled with the financial system reports or accounting records. The audit questioned $1,968,775 in grant payments received by the MBN and recommended that an additional $98,127 could be put to better use. The current follow-up audit found that the MBN took corrective actions on the 2005 audit recommendations; however, the corrective actions did not improve accounting procedures so that financial systems accurately reflected grant expenditures; consequently, deficiencies similar to those identified in the 2005 audit persisted in the areas of grant drawdowns and financial reporting. This audit report presents 12 recommendations intended to further improve the MBN's grant financial systems. 7 tables and appended audit objectives, scope, and methodology; schedule of dollar-related findings; and responses of stakeholder entities to the draft report