WBC oversight falls short: IG

$800K improper spending

Auditors of the Small Business Administration’s program assisting women entrepreneurs identified $800,000 in unallowed or unsupported spending in fiscal 2018, raising questions about the adquacy of SBA’s management of the program.

      “SBA did not provide effective oversight over the Women’s Business Center program,” the SBA’s Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware wrote in the May 4 report. The audit identified $800,000 in “unsupported, unallowable and unallocable” costs that had not been detected or addressed by SBA.

      In fiscal 2018, SBA awarded 116 cooperative agreements to WBCs totaling $16.4 million. Ten of those agreements were audited, comprising $2.9 million in federal and matching funds.

      The audit found that the WBCs failed to correct accounting deficiencies, made improper budget transfers, and did not keep accurate financial records, among other problems.

      And although SBA detected significant noncompliance at two WBCs, which should have resulted in their removal from the program, SBA took no action. A previous IG report identified one of the noncompliant WBCs as being located in Mobile, AL.

      The IG made 10 recommendations to improve SBA’s management of the WBCs. SBA agreed with the recommendations and had plans to resolve them.

More information:
IG report of May 4:https://bit.ly/3okGdfF
2019 IG report:https://www.sba.gov/node/1648714

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