We audited the Indianapolis Housing Agency’s Housing Choice Voucher program based on an anonymous complaint. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2018 audit plan. Our objective was specific to the allegations in the complaint and was to determine whether the Agency wrote off accounts receivable, deleted adjustments to accounts payable and receivable, and made adjustments to accounts payable and receivable associated with its program in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) regulations and its own requirements.
The Agency did not administer its program in accordance with HUD’s regulations and its own requirements. Specifically, the Agency could not provide sufficient documentation to support that it appropriately wrote off accounts receivable. Further, it could not always provide sufficient documentation to support that it appropriately deleted adjustments to accounts payable and receivable and made accounts payable and receivable adjustments. The Agency also improperly deleted adjustments to accounts payable for housing assistance payments to a landlord. As a result, the Agency and HUD lacked assurance that the Agency’s accounting entries were accurate and that the Agency appropriately wrote off nearly $200,000 in accounts receivable. Further, it failed to pay nearly $1,300 in housing assistance to a program landlord.
We recommend that the Director of HUD’s Indianapolis Office of Public Housing require the Agency to resolve the issues and implement adequate procedures and controls to address the weaknesses cited in this audit report. We also recommended that the Director request that HUD’s Quality Assurance Division continue reviewing the Agency’s (1) write off of accounts receivable, (2) deleted adjustments to accounts payable and receivable, and (3) adjustments to accounts payable and receivable as part of its financial and program management and operations review.